


The Admin

by orphan_account



Category: Hermitcraft RPF, Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Featherweight Spoilers, Featherweight Tie-In, Gen, Hermitcraft Multiverse, Hurt/Comfort, Nobody knows the end until Siren finishes Featherweight lol, Really we’re all here for EX being a mood, Strawbabey is the bestest bean, Watcher magic, Watcher!AU, Watcher!Xisuma, X and EX are brothers if you missed it, hermitcraft au, idk what I’m doing here, inspired by DoctorSiren’s FW, more tags will be added when I figure out what’s going on, ocassional suffering in crazy random mind-lost ways... or so the comments say XD, probably needs retconning lol, updated as it’s written
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:06:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 34,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25730290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Watcher!Xisuma and EX have angst cause Herobrine is a meanie... or something XDThis is basically a story entirely made up of my headcanons for the Xisuma and Evil X depicted in DoctorSiren’s “Featherweight”. Ever wondered what they were up to while Grian was being a birb? Well here ya go XD(Hint; it’s a ton of brotherly love and growth because this fic has no right to be as complex as it is but here we are anyway-)If you haven’t already, you should probably  read FW to understand what’s going on, but it’s not entirely necessary :PA great big special thank you needs to go to Fani for the idea, to Siren for being epic and letting me make a fanfic about her fanfic, to Pho for letting me annoy her on a regular basis about this, and to my entire CommentCrew™ for just being the most incredible, supportive group of people you will ever find on the internet.I couldn’t do it without y’all, and I hope you, dear reader enjoy! <33~Updates Regularly!~[I swear I’m alive, so sorry for the radio silence but something big is about to happen with the plot and I want to get it right XDD]
Relationships: TBD - Relationship
Comments: 1310
Kudos: 113





	1. Escape

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DoctorSiren](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoctorSiren/gifts), [HermitFani](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HermitFani/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Featherweight](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25004149) by [DoctorSiren](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoctorSiren/pseuds/DoctorSiren). 



The End was frigid. 

That was the only thing Xisuma had kept in his mind as he approached the portal. 

Not the dark castles rising around him that seemed to be bearing down his neck.

Not the lack of his mask, the comforting purple tint that had once laid over everything now gone, traded out for his father’s helmet.

Not his father. He couldn’t think about him anymore… after he had disappeared three months ago, X had spent enough time thinking.

Now, he chose to keep his mind on the cold instead of his problems… a task that was growing steadily harder as his brother got angrier.

A few steps away, Alex was trying to light the portal, cursing in Galactic under his breath. Ex was almost the polar opposite to Xisuma, from his fiery temper and disregard for normal Watcher society to his long white hair that he kept pulled back in a tight bun. Had it not been for the red suit and shimmering purple freckles identical to Xisuma, no one would ever have pegged them as brothers, let alone friends.

Yet here they were, Ex trying to use his magic so the two of them could escape before it was too late to leave.

“You sure you don’t need any help?” Xisuma stepped forward, watching as Alex conjured another small orb of fire. The cold wind quickly attacked the small flame, causing it to flicker out.

“No, I told you; I’ve got it.” Alex glared at the bedrock structure again, shifting his wings to block the wind in annoyance.  
“I just have to get a good spark.” As he spoke, Ex conjured another ball of purple fire, his purplish-red eyes gleaming with concentration. This time it stayed alive, wavering uncertainly on the tips of Alex’s fingers.

X started to step forward to help, but Ex waved him off with one hand, carefully setting the fire in the portal. The flame lit on the bedrock, wavering for an uncertain moment before igniting the portal with a bang.

“Ha! I told you I could do it!” Alex shouted, raising his fists over his head triumphantly.  
“Take that, ‘Suma!” Ex smirked happily, picking up his red helmet and fitting it snugly over his head. 

“I never said you couldn’t do it,” Xisuma said with a shrug, tightening his grip on his own helmet. It still felt weird to call it his own… every time he had seen it, it had been on his dad, right before battle. The fact that he and Alex were standing here in their father’s old uniforms felt like a smack to the face, constantly reminding him that nothing would be the same.

With a sigh, Xisuma put on the helmet, the comforting weight calming his nerves a bit.

“You ready, bro?” Alex asked, tilting his head toward the portal. Xisuma nodded, shaking away the oddity of the whole situation. He never would have guessed that he would ever leave the End, but with the sea of stars in front of him seemed to make the whole thing feel more real. They were actually escaping.

“Yeah. Let’s get out of here before the Watchers get wind that we’ve left.”

Alex nodded, glancing back at the distant tower that they’d called home their whole lives. It was strange to think that once they were through the portal they wouldn’t be coming back.

Silently, the brothers stepped up to the portal, looking at each other for one last time. 

Quickly, Alex pulled Xisuma into a brief but tight hug. X paused for a moment in surprise before returning the hug.  
“Catch you on the flip side ‘Suma.”

Alex let go, jumping into the portal before Xisuma had a chance to say anything.

He sighed, looking down at the portal. It was now or never.

Steeling his nerves, he started to jump but paused as he heard a noise behind him.

A terrifying screech was rising from a nearby tower, sending X’s heart plummeting to his shoes. There was only one creature that could make that sound-

He watched in terror for a split second as Watchers started coming out from their towers like a swarm of angry hornets, streaking straight towards him. Their horrid screams blocked his thoughts, and Xisuma could feel eyes on him from every direction. This wasn’t good.

Panicked, X jumped into the portal but was halted halfway in by a pair of claws grabbing him around the middle. The watcher above him sneered, its too wide smile sending chills down his spine. 

“||𝙹⚍ ℸ ̣ ⍑╎リꖌ ||𝙹⚍ ᓵᔑリ ᒷᓭᓵᔑ!¡ᒷ? ∴ᒷ ᓵᔑリ'ℸ ̣ ⍑ᔑ⍊ᒷ ᓭ╎ꖎꖎ|| ꖎ╎ℸ ̣ ℸ ̣ ꖎᒷ ʖ∷ᔑℸ ̣ ᓭ ⊣ᒷℸ ̣ ℸ ̣ ╎リ⊣ ᔑ∴ᔑ||. ∴𝙹⚍ꖎ↸リ'ℸ ̣ ∴ᔑリℸ ̣ ||𝙹⚍ ℸ ̣ 𝙹 ⊣𝙹 ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ ∴ᔑ|| 𝙹⎓ ||𝙹⚍∷ ⎓ᔑℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ∷, ᔑ⎓ℸ ̣ ᒷ∷ ᔑꖎꖎ.”  
Xisuma glared at the laughing Watcher, trying to get out of the creature’s grasp. Frantically, he beat his wings at its face, feeling its claws loosen a bit from the attack.

X twisted one last time, the Watcher losing its grip. He started to fall into the portal, but now the hoard was on him. Another Watcher grabbed him around the neck, X caught halfway in the portal. Xisuma choked on the air, trying desperately to get out.

Suddenly, he felt a tug on his leg through the portal. That was all the warning he had before he was pulled down, the Watcher releasing their talons in surprise.

Xisuma fell through the portal, crashing down on top of Alex with a heavy thud.

“What the hell man?! I just got your bum outta there, no need to sit on me,” Ex shouted, shoving Xisuma off of him.

X blinked at Alex in surprise, bringing a hand gingerly up to his sore throat. He sat up, too shell shocked to reply. 

The cold was gone.

“Where are we?” Xisuma was startled to hear how hoarse his voice was, finding it painful to speak. Alex smirked, a bit of X’s own shock mirrored in his face. 

He held out a hand to Xisuma, gesturing to the alien world around them.

“Welcome to the Overworld, ‘Suma.”

\---

_The Watchers were in an uproar. The explosions had been going for four hours now and showed no sign of stopping._

_He watched with a scowl, observing the fickle beasts barrage each other in attempts to claim the Doom tower. He could care less for the stupidity of his subjects. None of them seemed to realise what the real issue was._

_The boys were gone, escaped through the portal._

_How they had lit it, he was unsure, but that hardly mattered now._

_What mattered was stopping them, before they released the secrets of his perfect world. Those brats wouldn’t stop the empire he had spent so much time on… not if he had anything to say about it._

_Another explosion of purple fire echoed across the End, drawing his attention back to the fight. A plan was starting to form… a small idea. Those boys wouldn’t escape his grasp for long._

_Pleased with the thought of vengeance, he settled back to watching the fight, a small smirk playing on his face as he watched the destruction._

_Those foolish children would regret trying to escape Herobrine’s grasp._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my gosh I can’t believe I’m doing this XDD welcome to my first HC Au, Im so frikin excited, and I really hope you enjoyed reading :3
> 
> I don’t have a plan for how I’m going to upload this, since my main Minecraft story is still my biggest focus, so just keep an eye out :)
> 
> A super huge thanks to DoctorSiren and Fani for giving me the inspo for this, as well as the entire Siren community. I love y’all so frikin much, ty for making Hermitcraft the best community ever <3
> 
> If you liked, please leave your thoughts and suggestions in the comments :)
> 
> Dftba my dudes, I hope y’all have a great day!!  
> <3 ST


	2. Preparing

Xismua woke up with a start, his heart pounding and head reeling from the last few traces of a fading dream. He brought a shaking hand up to his neck, the distant feeling of claws around his throat still lingering. 

_It’s just a dream._

He had to remind himself every time… even if it had been years, he still thought about that night every time he was stressed. Because in truth, it wasn’t just a dream.

It was a reminder. A warning, specially made to torment him on days like this… days where the universe was shifting, and anything could happen.

X could feel it; it was in the air, all around him. He was sure he couldn’t be the only one sensing it. 

This didn’t happen often; usually in an update, but rarely, very rarely, this feeling came without the shifting of worlds.

For the others, world hopping was a lot of fun. A new start with friends at their sides. A chance to lay down their old projects and jump into something bigger and better. 

For Xisuma, however, the world shift brought stress. It meant the Watchers were restless. it meant he would be protecting his friends, ushering them over to a new place and shielding them from the eyes of old foes. 

Everyone here had something they were running from, and this time, Xisuma was determined to make the switch go smoothly.

He’d been preparing for weeks, looking for the perfect place to lead everyone. In the past, there had been issues ( like the time they had come into the new world to find it dotted with treacherous mountains and hills) and even times when the Hermits has almost been discovered, the Watchers breathing down their necks.

But not this time. This time nothing could go wrong. The world he’d chosen was perfect. No one would follow them. Nothing bad would happen. He’s even asked Alex to come help with the process, banking on his brother’s magic to shield them.

Xisuma grinned slightly, thinking about seeing Ex again. Despite their past disagreements and vastly different lifestyles, X really did love Alex. Sure, Ex could be brash and destructive some days, but he was still the only person that truly understood him. Xisuma had faith brother would always pull through for him, even if he griped about it along the way.

X would have to remember to get some strawberries before Alex showed up.

Xisuma swung his feet out of bed, taking a deep breath. The prismarine floor was cool and smooth under his bare feet, the warm lights from lanterns illuminating the back room of his base. Barrels were stacked against the wall, video game posters framed in between them. Tokens from the past two years were scattered around, commemorating the adventures he’d gone on.

X stood, going through the motions of getting dressed and ready to go out in a haze. He pulled on his suit and armour, not even bothering to check his tools before going to the door… it wasn’t like he would need them much longer.

Xisuma picked his helmet up off of its stand by the door, fitting it snugly over his head and taking a deep breath. He pressed the airlock button, walking out of the safe section of his base into the main diamond area. 

His boots tapped softly against the glass floor, the only other sound the soft whirring of minecarts circling the upper rim of the structure. In the cool darkness of his base, he felt almost at ease. It was hard to know it would all be gone in a few hours, but he was also excited to start fresh, build something new.

With one more sentimental glance around his base, Xisuma pulled on his elytra and rocketed out of his base. It wouldn’t be long.

\---

The rest of the day passed (mostly) smoothly, X travelling from one Hermit’s base to the next sorting out the last minute problems. He watched everyone wrapping up their projects, sorting the last of their things and getting what they needed to leave ready. 

Soon, the sun was setting on the final day, tension hanging in the air as the world came closer to resetting. Normally, X would use this time to enjoy it, but there were still issues to settle.

“Would you please tell this _buffoon_ that this is my house.”  
“No! Nooo, I know what you’re doing. I paid for this, it’s my house.”

X sighed, shaking his head as he watched Doc and Bdubs’ quarrel over the empty mansion, shaking annoyed fingers at each other.

“Well my sign was here first, I think I should get it.” Doc crossed his arms blocking the entryway.  
“Ahahaha, very funny robo-idiot. I’m pretty sure I’m the one who spent my diamonds here.” Bdubs casually moved Doc out of the way, leaning against the doorframe with a smug look.

“Well I put my diamonds here. Therefore it’s mine.” Doc tried to move Bdubs out of the way, but the two devolved into halfheartedly slapping each other, fighting for space in the door.

“Okay gents, break it up.” Xisuma pushed them apart, rolling his eyes.   
“This is stupid. If you can’t decide who gets it, I’m going to split it in half.” The quibbling men paused, turning to X in surprise.

“That’s actually not that bad an idea.” Doc mumbled, side-eyeing Bdubs.  
“Yeah! That actually kinda sounds like fun!” Bdubs turned to Doc with a big smile.   
“Ha! I bet my half would look way cooler than yours!!” 

“Bet.” Doc said with a smirk, holding out his hand to the builder. The two shook on it and Xisuma shrugged, pleasantly surprised.  
“Well, I guess that’s settled then.”

“Oh yes, very much settled.” Bdubs said, nodding emphatically.  
“Yeah, thanks X.”  
Doc waved goodbye before rocketing off towards his spaceship, Bdubs leaving through the nether portal.

Xisuma glanced up at the mansion, adding it to the short list of things to move over in the new world. It wasn’t conventional, sure, but if it made Bdubs and Doc happy it was worth the extra bit of magic. Alex would be able to help him move it.

With a final check around the gaming district (and a short trip to the town of Sweet Berry to pick up some strawberries) Xisuma’s list of jobs was almost complete.

He started to enter a nether portal, but paused, deciding against it. He’d been through there enough today; he deserved to take the scenic route. 

Xisuma rocketed into the sky, flying the long way back to his ocean base. It was nice to just relax, watching the world pass under him as the wind blew in his face.

He landed in the middle of his base, quietly unpacking his Ender chest and pulling out his remaining diamonds. Above he could hear the start of a storm, and knew that the universe was almost ready to move.

He entered the back room of his base, sitting down in front of a small lava flow to start burning the gems. 

One diamond, two diamond. Four. Ten. X watched with a smile as the shining jewels slowly burned away, marking the end of an era.

Soon he could hear the crack of thunder in the distance, all the diamonds gone. It was time to move on.

\---

Alex landed heavily in the middle of a strange monument, lightning crackling off of his shoulders as he teleported into the world. He glanced around, taking in the dark corners of the build, prismarine casting light green-blue shadows around him. The whole place was oddly peaceful, the geometric design and the quiet clacking of minecarts above his head creating a sense of ease and peace.

Above the growing storm rumbled, shining filtered light through the open autrium. Ex figured he was in the right place; the whole build radiated the same obnoxiously calm energy as his brother.

“Hey ‘Suma, you home?” Alex called out into the large space, looking around. Nothing but his own voice echoed back to him. 

He turned in a circle, peering into the four quadrants of the diamond shaped base. After a moment of wandering around, he found a door.

At the push of a button, it swung open, followed by the hiss of air. Alex sighed in relief as he stepped inside, pulling off his helmet. Thank Notch for some clean air. 

“X? You there?” He peered around a corner, taking in all the things his brother had built in the year or so since they had last met up. His usual posters were scattered around, this time paired with prismarine and spruce barrels. Alex would never say it out loud, but he was pretty impressed with the work X did.

“Alex? That you?” Xisuma walked out form around the next corner, a satisfied smile on his face and a box in his hand.   
“Hey, long time no see.” Alex grinned, giving Xisuma a quick hug and ruffling his hair.  
“Watcha got there?”

“Just a ‘thank you’ for helping out.” X handed Alex the box. Ex beamed at the fresh strawberries inside. Count on Xisuma to remember.

“Thanks bro.” Ex tucked the strawberries in his inventory, rubbing his hands in anticipation.   
“So, you ready to flip worlds?!” 

Xisuma shrugged, grabbing his helmet off a stand near the door. 

“Ready as I’ll ever be.”

In tandem the brothers put on their helmets, filing back out the door and into the main diamond to find the air now heavy with an impending storm.

It was time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haha, bet y’all thought I was done for today XD
> 
> I spent the whole afternoon watching the old “Evil Xisuma” videos and exploring the Season 6 map (especially X’s base; it’s so so cool to see on my own computer XD)
> 
> Alex is slowly becoming my favorite character, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say writing Doc and Bdubs fighting wasn’t the funniest thing XD I could just hear their voices and there’s so much in the conversation I took out later on
> 
> I may do more tomorrow, I’ve got a good idea of where to go next with the story :D
> 
> I hope y’all enjoyed, comments and suggestions are highly welcomed!!   
> Dftba!!  
> <3 ST


	3. Storm

Xisuma looked up at the stormy sky, smiling despite his nerves. He’d only switched the world over a handful of times before, and it never failed to get him excited.

X reached out with his magic, feeling the universe around him. He could sense Alex standing next to him, his presence crackling like lightning. He reached out farther, sensing the Guardians underneath the prismarine, the life swirling in the ocean around him. It was oddly calming to feel all the life around him, the universe connected through every piece.

Even further out, he could feel the Hermits, their minds shining like stars out in the world, each aware (even if only slightly) of the shift in the air. He latched onto the feeling of each of them, taking a deep. He just had to make sure to get them all to the same place… not too hard, right?

Right on time, the world started to turn, the folds of the universe bending, breaking, and realigning itself. Xisuma opened his eyes, only vaguely registering the purple fire that rolled off of him for a moment before the world turned dark. Everything turned weightless, the only thing left to ground X the aura of the other Hermits out in the void.

_Where are we going?_

Alex’s voice spoke directly in his mind, leaving a static kind of energy running through him.

_Just follow me. It should be here soon._

As if on cue, the new world Xisuma had picked out snapped into existence, the universe shifting to invite the brothers in. Now for the hard part.

Alex and X landed on a wide plane, magic crackling around them as they both concentrated on pulling the others after them. They each guided the other Hermits through the shifting void, but partway through something happened. 

Like flipping a switch, X lost track of the others, left with a surge of disoriented magic.

_‘Suma, we have trouble._

Ex pointed up at the sky, brow furrowed in concern. 

Up above them, storm clouds were circling, a dark rift spreading from the centre of the whirlwind. 

X’s eyes widened as he watched the sky begin to turn a deep, static purple. He knew that sky. 

It was the End.

Xisuma turned to Alex, unsure of what to do. This had definitely never happened before.

_It’s got to be Him._

Alex’s voice was quiet and angry in the back of X’s mind. 

It can’t be. There's no way He could have followed us, I made sure… right?

Xisuma looked up, a sinking feeling growing in the pit of his stomach. Ex shook his head, bringing lightning raining down around him at the movement.

_We have to leave. Now._

Xisuma took one more look at the sky, not wanting to believe it, but knowing Alex was right.

Okay. We’ll have to grab everyone agai-

Before X could finish his sentence, a bolt of pure energy fired on them, sending the brothers tumbling to the ground. Above them a pair of glowing eyes appeared from the gloom, the wind swirling faster and faster.

**Hello there. I’ve been looking for you.**

The voice was loud and menacing in his mind. Xisuma quickly scrambled to his feet, his heart pounding faster and faster. He’d only heard that voice a few times before, and it never meant good news. 

_He_ was here.

“⍑𝙹ꖎ↸ 𝙹リ!” 

Alex grabbed X’s arm, and he barely had time to register the warning before a barrage of lighting enveloped them. The brothers were weightless for a moment, spinning too fast to keep track of anything.

A second later, they slammed into the ground, the magic cutting off with a boom. The shockwave floored Xisuma, knocking him to the ground.

Shakily, he sat up, looking around in disbelief. 

He was on a small strip of sandy beach, surrounded by the other hermits, all in similar states of disarray. 

X looked up at the sky.

The void was gone… but so was Alex.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaah, oh my gosh this story is going to have more hits than my entire backlog in like no time flat XD  
> I’m so so happy y’all are liking it! :)
> 
> This chapter was a ton of fun to write, and was definitely a needed break from the writer’s block I’ve been having on my other story.  
> Hopefully the concept of changing worlds for the next season came through, I played around with a lot of ideas of how to convey it, but ultimately liked this kind of Multiverse-type world structure.
> 
> Hope you like cliffhangers, cause there’s a lot more where that came from XD
> 
> As always, tysm for reading gorgeous people!! Dftba :D  
> <3 ST


	4. Invisible

Alex sat up, disoriented. His head ached, and he felt drained. He glanced around, breathing a sigh of relief as he noticed all the Hermits safely on the beach. His magic had gotten them here safely… wherever here was.

Ex stood, brushing the sand off his uniform. He felt exhausted and weak in the knees, but it was worth it. There was no sign of the dark clouds or an ominous voice anymore, and that was good enough.

Off to his right, Xisuma was slowly sitting up, looking around with an expression of pure shock on his face.  
“Hey, you good?” Ex said, weaving around the just-waking-up players to talk to his brother. 

Xisuma didn’t reply, standing and craning his neck around to look at everyone. 

“Bro, what’s wrong?” Alex asked, crossing his arms in mild concern.

Xisuma didn’t reply, seemingly counting the Hermits around them. Ex waved a hand in front of X’s face in disbelief.  
“Hey! Earth to ‘Suma. Could you plea-“ Alex was cut off as Xisuma stepped through him. 

_Through him!_

Not around him, just straight through his chest.  
“Has anyone seen Alex?” 

Ex blinked at his brother, stunned into silence. What had just happened? Could the others even see him?

“I haven’t seen him,” False said with a shrug, brushing sand off her shirt and glancing around. (“Now that’s just rude.” Alex mumbled)

“Wasn’t he going to help you switch the world over?” Keralis said, forehead creased in concern. 

“Yeah, he was; I mean, he did. But... something happened partway through... he should be here” X trailed off, looking around.

“I am here!” Alex shouted. No one reacted, not even X.  
“Can anyone hear me?!”

“What happened? We kind of got some turbulence, but I’ve never switched worlds right that.” Right. The new guy, who always seemed to wear that same red sweater... George? Gavin? Something like that… Alex couldn’t remember.

Xisuma shook his head  
“I’m not really sure what went down, but it isn’t usually like that. I sort of lost track of all of you in the void... and then... I don’t really know. I think Alex pulled you all back here.”

Alex crossed his arms, tamping down the nervous energy that was rising in his chest. Of course, he had pulled them back from the corrupt world, but that hardly mattered now. He just wanted to know why no one could see him!

“Oh man, is that why the ride was so intense?” Ren said, raising an eyebrow. (Alex always liked that guy; he always was down to hang.) “I haven’t had a switch like that in… well… in ever!”

“I- I’m not sure, but it probably played a part,” Xisuma said, still looking a bit panicked. Alex huffed, cursing the whole stupid situation. Of course X wasn’t going to mention Herobrine, but still… it felt like something that somebody should address. 

“Yeah, there was definitely something wrong with the void magic.” Scar piped up from absently drawing in the sand. Alex paused his fuming for a moment to stare at him.

Sure, Ex hadn’t been around his brother’s friends in a while, but he could have sworn that guy didn’t have a beard before... and he definitely had had pants on in the past.

No matter. Ther where bigger issues than worrying about one weirdo.

Alex shook his head, pulling his attention back to the conversation as another girl in a pink jacket spoke up.  
“So... what now? Are we in the wrong place?!” The girl spoke hurriedly, looking a good bit more frazzled than some of the others.

Ex turned to see Xisuma’s reaction, unsurprised to see his brother instantly regain his composure as a few other Hermits turned to face him. Leave it to X to put on a brave face for the crowd.

“It’s ok Stress. This isn’t exactly what I planned, but we’re fine.”

Xisuma raised his voice a bit, making sure everyone could hear him.

“Hey everybody! Come on over, let’s group up!” 

The side chatter died down as the other Hermits scattered across the sandbar came over to where Xisuma was standing, expectant looks on their faces. 

Nobody acknowledged Ex looking straight through him. One guy in a bright cyan shirt and glasses even coming to stand right where Alex was, sending a strange shivering sensation up his spine. Ex quickly stepped out of the circle of Hermits, annoyed and just a tad bit scared.

“Can anybody frikin hear me?!” Alex shouted. No one responded, their attention on whatever Xisuma was saying. Figures that the goody-two-shoes would get to be the visible one, even he hadn’t gotten everyone there in the end.

Alex sighed, turning his attention back to whatever they were talking about. Being bitter wouldn’t get him anywhere.

“-it’s not the most conventional situation, but I guess it will be an adventure now!” Xisuma said, clasping his hands together. As cheesy as it sounded, the other Hermits were clearly relaxing more.

“So! First order of business is to find land with trees, so just keep your communicators on and... go!”

As if to reinforce this, X jumped into the ocean with a whoop, the others quickly shaking off their surprise to join him. 

Alex stood on the sandbar, watching everyone swim out in small groups. As everyone left, laughing and splashing, Ex caught Xisuma turning back to face the small strip of land.

For a split second, Alex had a small spark of hope that he’d been spotted, but the next moment X just shook his head, swimming after the others.

In no time flat, Ex had been completely forgotten, somehow stranded in the same world as everyone, yet still so distant.

He turned in a half-circle, spotting a mushroom island a short distance away. He wasn’t sure how far he would have to go to find proper land, and tired from using so much magic in one day Ex decided it would be smarter to make camp there than swimming a long way.

A short swim later, and Ex had reached the edge of the island, promptly collapsing as he reached land. He lay down right there in the open, determining that he’d deal with the whole “being invisible” thing eventually.

For now, Alex wouldn’t worry. 

He quickly fell into an exhausted sleep, oblivious to the subtle shifting of the universe.

\---

_Herobrine drummed his fingers against the side of his throne, scowling down at the pair of grovelling Watchers at his feet._

_“!¡ꖎᒷᔑᓭᒷ, ᒲᔑᓭℸ ̣ ᒷ∷. ∴ᒷ ⎓𝙹⚍リ↸ ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ ʖ𝙹||ᓭ 𝙹リᓵᒷ, ∴ᒷ ᓵᔑリ ↸𝙹 ╎ℸ ̣ ᔑ⊣ᔑ╎リ. I⎓ ℸ ̣ ⍑ᔑℸ ̣ ∷ᒷ↸ 𝙹リᒷ ⋮⚍ᓭℸ ̣ ⍑ᔑ↸リ'ℸ ̣ ᓵ⚍ℸ ̣ 𝙹⎓⎓ ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ !¡𝙹∷ℸ ̣ -”  
“Enough! I don’t want your petty excuses.” Herobrine stood angrily, the Watchers shrinking back a bit as he glared down at them._

_“You have failed to capture them for long enough. Hand over the masks.”_

_One of the Watchers looked up slack-jawed.  
“ʖ⚍ℸ ̣... ʖ⚍ℸ ̣ ᓭ╎∷ᒷ, ∴ᒷ ᓵᔑリ'ℸ ̣ ! ∴ᒷ ∴𝙹⚍ꖎ↸ ʖᒷ ᔑ ↸╎ᓭ⊣∷ᔑᓵᒷ-!”  
“A disgrace you say?! I can do you one better.” Herobrine roared, his empty, white eyes shining bright with rage._

_He raised his sword high above his head, pointing it at the Watcher. A bolt of energy slammed into the pathetic creature, incinerating it on the spot. Only its precious mask remained, falling to the ground with a clatter._

_The first Watcher’s counterpart hissed, jumping back, but Herobrine obliterated it before it even had a chance to run._

_“Now.” He sheathed his sword, sitting back down on his throne.  
“Will somebody find those boys before I have to deal more punishment?”_

_He didn’t even need to look up to see the two guards at the doorway nodding furiously.  
“||ᒷᓭ, ᒲ|| ꖎ╎ᒷ⊣ᒷ”_

_“Well? Don’t just stand there!” Herobrine growled, turning his burning white gaze on them. The guards glanced at each other before quickly flying out of the room, their wingbeats echoing down the hall._

_Herobrine leaned back, returning to scanning the rest of his domain. If those idiot Watchers couldn’t do their jobs soon, there would be blood to pay. He would have those escapees if it was the last thing he ever did._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahaha, we stan Strawbabey angst 🍓🔥
> 
> So, three cups of tea later, and I’ve got another chapter XD not much to say here, I frikin love Alex, hope y’all are having a better day than he's havin lol
> 
> Tysm for reading, and dftba!!  
> <3 ST


	5. Contact

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some time later...

Ex sat at the top of a tree, bored out of his mind. He had stopped counting how many days he’d been stuck in this strange invisible state... it felt like it had already been ages (though he knew it probably had been only a few weeks)

Try as he might, Ex couldn’t seem to get anyone’s attention... he was starting to get scared that he would be stuck in this invisible state forever.

When it had first started, Alex had tried his hardest to get anyone’s attention, or even just teleport out of the world entirely. Frustratingly enough, he couldn’t seem to get up the power to teleport, feeling drained and exhausted every time he tried summoning his lightning back.

Alex had begrudgingly spent a few days on the mushroom island, camping out there until a nether portal had been set up. After that, he hopped from one Hermit’s base to the next, watching the day to day life of the community during the day and returning to the familiar heat of the Nether at night. 

No more dark menacing threats came from the sky, but that was only a small comfort to Alex. He was tired of living like this, aching for some sort of action, anything to fill the isolation.

On the one hand, it was ridiculously annoying to be invisible. Sure, Alex usually lived on his own, separated from most players, but never before had he been completely ignored when he entered a room. Alex was used to being the one who ignored people, not the other way around, and the whole situation was beginning to really grind his gears.

He had tried just about everything he could think of to annoy people and make his presence known (mainly moving their stuff around and causing trouble), but one way or another they all seemed to attribute the chaos and moved items to their neighbours messing with them. 

On the other hand, being invisible had its perks. He could watch everyone without fear of being discovered. Alex had taken to going around everyone’s bases, watching them build and gather resources throughout the day, and occasionally even messing with some of the more forgetful Hermits (He’d quickly figured out that Scar wouldn’t even bat an eye at things missing from his absolute mess of a storage system; he was starting to make a game out of switching around his stuff)

Overall, it was pretty interesting to see how everyone lived their lives, but he found himself wishing more and more that he could get out of this in-between place.

Alex watched the sunset cast golden light over the jungle below him, lost in his own thoughts. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do tonight; he didn’t feel like sleeping... maybe he would snag some food from X and go exploring through the Nether again.

Alex took another second to enjoy the view before he climbed back down through the canopy, sliding down a vine to the jungle floor. Through the trees he could see Xisuma’s honey farm, a half-built back tower shining against the starry skyline.

One quick trip through the rough underbrush of the jungle and Ex was pulling himself up into the structure (would it have killed his brother to add a ground-level entry to this thing?) and looking around for anything he could easily snag. 

Inside the build was a long walkway, ringed with flowers and some sort of collection system connected to two rows of hives. 

Quiet buzzing filled the air, the sounds of sleeping bees making the whole area seem to hum as if the building itself was alive. Alex glanced around, walking down the central walkway. It was peaceful here, with the warm glow of lanterns shiny off of honey. He could see why Xisuma would start his project with something like this. 

He started to open one of the chests of honey but paused as he heard the sound of a rocket firing at the end of the building. Curious, Ex walked down to the end of the platform, raising his eyebrows as he took in a giant tower that was connected to the back of the honey farm.

The tower formed a huge rounded area that reached all the way to the forest floor, but it was mainly obstructed by a massive stack of quartz ore stacked almost halfway up the tower’s interior. 

Alex walked down the back steps of the honey building, craning his neck to see Xisuma standing at the very top. He seemed to be mining away at the ores (Did he ever stop working?), singing at the top of his lungs as he went.

Ex watched as quartz chips and glowing XP flew over the side of the tower, landing a few feet away from where he was standing. Alex picked up one of the spare shards, smirking up at his brother. He wished he could be seen, again if only to make fun of Xisuma’s karaoke.

As he turned over the quartz in his hands, an idea struck him. Maybe he did have a way to talk to his brother…  
\---

X glanced up from working through the pile of quartz, examining his tools. He’d mostly mended all of them with the XP he’d just collected and decided to take a break. His arms were starting to get tired from working all afternoon.

He tucked his tools back in his inventory, looking out over the night sky. Maybe he should get some sleep tonight... it had been over a week since he’d even taken a nap... 

Almost as soon as he had the thought, X tamped it down. No sleep. There was no reason to risk it.

It wasn’t like he needed sleep anyway; X could channel his magic to keep himself awake. It caused his freckles to constantly glow, but other than that, it was almost impossible to tell he was staying magically alert. At this point, it was almost second nature for him to work 24/7. 

Not to mention the fact that every time he laid down he was plagued with nightmares; a terrifying combo of old memories and all his worrying combined. With everything that had been going on, he didn’t really want to face that if he didn’t have to.

With that pleasant thought in mind, X pulled his attention back to the task at hand. He gathered up the remaining quartz at his feet before gliding down to the main honey farm, looking around to see if he had dropped anything else.

At the base of the quartz-ore tower stood a pile of the off-white shards. He reached down to collect them but stopped himself as he looked closer. The quartz wasn’t just randomly scattered on the ground; it seemed almost intentionally arranged. 

X tilted his head at the pile trying to figure out what was off about it. He started to move to the side, eyes widening as he made out a sort of message in the shards.

“There is no way...” he whispered in disbelief, pulling out a few scaffolding blocks and stacking them up to get a better view of the quartz message. He hadn’t noticed anyone around here while mining, but he had obviously missed something.

Marked out clear as day below him was a single sentence;

_“Anyone ever told you that you can’t sing? -Ex”_

“How on Earth- Alex?”  
Xisuma looked around in disbelief. Had his brother really been here? Nothing else seemed out of place, and he couldn’t see anyone around.

He looked back at the message. 

Definitely Alex. No one else he knew would go through all the trouble to lay out a half-way insult after almost a month of radio silence.

X cleared his throat, speaking up.  
“Alex, are you here? Can you hear me?” 

Alex laughed at Xisuma, knowing he couldn’t be heard, but loving the mix of annoyance and disbelief on his brother’s face. Finally! After so many weeks, he’d caught someone’s attention! Ex looked down at the quartz at his feet, quickly trying to rearrange it into a new message.

_invisible, but yes_

Xisuma watched in disbelief as the quartz below him started moving, rearranging into a new sentence seemingly on its own. 

“Invisible? Where have you been?! Are you okay?” X looked around, baffled. How was this happening?

Alex laughed, rewriting the quartz again. 

_been here. And my eardrums are bleeding if u wondered_

Xisuma stared at the new message, shaking his head.

“Please, at least I’m not as tone death as you. And what do you mean here? Like… here with the Hermits?” 

_Yup_

Xisuma nodded, jumping down from the scaffolding pillar, his mind kicking into overdrive. This whole time he’d been worried, and Alex had been in the same world as him? 

“Okay… okay.” He looked down at the message, unsure what he was supposed to think, talking to thin air.

“Gosh, Ex! I thought you were dead or kidnapped by the Watchers or lost in the void” Xisuma huffed, equally relieved and annoyed.  
“I want to hear everything, but first, we’re gonna need a better way to talk.”

Alex grinned; as much as he liked messing with Xisuma, it also made him feel a lot better to know that Xisuma had been worried. He could have cried, he was so relieved to be heard again.

Xisuma looked around, furrowing his brow in concentration. He wasn’t sure how all this worked, but he was ready to find a solution.

“Can you write in a book or something?”

Alex sighed, arranging the quartz again.

_No_

Xisuma nodded, starting to pace. Think think think. How else could people leave messages?

“There’s gotta be some better way to communicate than this…” X said, gesturing to the spinning quartz in frustration.

Alex watched X pace, wishing he had some sort of input to add. He hadn’t really thought about what he would do once he got someone’s attention.

Suddenly, Xisuma’s face lit up.  
“AHA! I’ve got an idea! You can move around items, right?”

Ex quickly grabbed the quartz again, surprised that Xisuma had already thought of something.

_Yes, obvi_

“Ah, right, okay.” Xisuma nodded to himself, this idea running through his brain faster than he could think.

“Stay right here! I’ll be right back, promise!!” 

X hastily grabbed his rockets, shooting off into the night sky. He pulled up to his starter base/platform quickly, rushing towards the chests he had there. Pulling out a couple of shulker boxes, he started grabbing materials. He knew exactly how to talk with Ex.

\---

A few moments later, Xisuma made a rough landing in the middle of the building, setting down two shulker boxes.

“Okay; can you open those?”

Ex opened one of them, peering inside. There were stacks and stacks of seemingly random blocks, along with a few slips of paper; Andesite, Birch Planks, Cobblestone.

Alex gasped, realising what Xisuma had planned. 

“Awesome! Ok, so use this chest-“ he put down a double chest “-and write what you need by using the first letter of the blocks.”

Alex grinned, wishing he could give Xisuma a hug. It was the kind of idea only his nerd brother would think of, and Ex loved him for it.

Xisuma watched expectantly as the chest opened seemingly of its own accord, starting to fill up with blocks.

_Magma, Andesite, Glass, Ice, Cobblestone._

“Magic,” X said excitedly, watching as more items were dropped in the chest.

_Glass, Oak, Torch._

_Wool, End Stone, Ice, Redstone, Diorite_

“The magic got weird?” Xisuma said out loud, tilting his head, waiting for as the next sentence slowly was built, the previous blocks being taken out of the chest.

_Trapped me in this world_

“Ah… but you can’t be seen or heard.”  
Xisuma bit his lip thinking about it. 

_Nope. Been trying tho._  
Alex finished organizing the blocks, hoping that Xisuma would have some brilliant idea about how to get him out. He could already see the pistons firing in X’s brain trying to problem solve.

“I… I’m not sure what to do… you say you’ve been here the whole time, but I can’t sense you at all.”

Xisuma looked up, trying to figure out where his brother might be. He reached out with his magic, searching for Alex’s aura. A few other Hermits that lived close lit up in his mind, but still no Alex.

“Can you use your magic?”

Ex picked up the blocks again, but paused before placing them in the chest. He wasn’t quite sure.  
He closed his eyes, looking for that spark of lightning that used to be so steady and constant in his chest.

A small spark of electricity flickered off his hands, nothing insignificant, but still minuscule compared to the lightning he used to use all the time.

_A little._

Xisuma nodded, thinking hard. He wasn’t sure exactly what was wrong, but he had to try something. Alex had been trapped long enough.

“Okay… I’m going to try and reach you.” Xisuma said, setting his nerve. Maybe if he could find Ex’s aura again they could talk telepathically… maybe even pull him back into the world proper.

“Can you try channelling your magic again? I’ll try and link up halfway.”

Alex nodded, watching as X closed his eyes, his freckles glowing brighter with concentration. He wasn’t sure if Xisuma’s plan was going to work, but it was worth a try.

X reached out with his magic, trying to find Alex’s aura like he did when moving worlds. He could feel the universe around him, first the bees nearby, then the life around the jungle. When he pushed out further, Hermits starting to light up in his mind. 

Alex tried to call up his magic, feeling a bit dizzy as the electricity started running through him again. He could see Xisuma right in front of him, but in the void it was a much different story.

Both of the brothers struggled to use their magic, the air filled with an odd kind of static. 

Alex was about to collapse, dizzy and disoriented, when a light suddenly lit up, far off on the magical plane.

Xisuma could feel it, the moment Alex touched his mind, his eyes flying open with shock. Standing in front of him, partially transparent, stood Alex, his eyes tired, yet excited under his helmet.

_Xisuma...Can you hear me?_

Xisuma’s jaw dropped as he watched Alex speak, both in his mind and directly in front of him.

“Yes!! I can see you!!”

Ex paused, holding back tears as Xisuma met his eyes; the first time anyone had looked at him head-on in weeks.

At a loss for words, Ex pulled off his helmet, ignoring the burning sensation in his lungs as he looked his brother full in the face.

Xisuma did the same, throwing the helmet to the side and pulling Alex into a hug. Ex didn’t quite feel solid in his arms, but Xisuma couldn't have cared less. His brother was safe, and that was all that mattered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaaah! That ending was so satisfying to write :D we’re finally getting close to the Featherweight side of this story XD
> 
> Sorry I didn’t get as much done today as I’ve been doing; I rewrote this chapter five times trying to make sure they ended up communicating in an interesting way, so hopefully the quality>quantity rule paid off lol
> 
> I know the timeline is a bit sketchy with the start of the season, I really struggled transitioning from the last chapter but here we are ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ 
> 
> Comment below your favorite Hermit (or even just a Hermit you’d like to see me write) I can’t decide who I want to have an interaction with in the next chapter, so I’ll just let the majority vote decide :)
> 
> I really hope y’all enjoyed, Tysm for reading!!  
> As always, feedback is appreciated, and I hope you have a fabulous day/night!!  
> Dftba!!  
> <3 ST


	6. Barriers

Alex pulled out of his hug with Xisuma, putting his helmet back on with a smile.  
_You have no idea how good it is to be able to talk to someone again._

X chuckled, shaking his head.  
“I can’t even imagine.”  
Xisuma picked up his helmet but didn’t put it on for a second, turning it over in his hands thoughtfully. He couldn’t quite believe that after all that time worrying, his brother had been so close...

“You know, I’m really glad you’re okay. After the whole thing with you-know-who…” Xisuma shook his head slightly, refusing to think about it. He pulled his helmet back on before meeting Alex’s eyes, wondering if Ex had been half as worried.  
“For a while, I wasn’t sure if you were going to come back.”

Ex nodded, some sort of emotion flashing across his face; anger? Relief?  
Xisuma didn’t really get a chance to tell before Alex shook his head, his usual smirk back.

 _Please, you couldn’t get rid of me that quickly_  
Ex laughed, nudging Xisuma a bit. Alex’s hand phased through Xisuma’s arm a bit, sending a strange tingling feeling through his bones.

“We have to figure out how to get you back to being... real?” Xisuma laughed, not quite sure how to explain it.

 _Yeah, that’d be nice,_ Alex chuckled.  
“How about we go back to my starter base. I want to hear everything.”

\---

Xisuma and Alex made their way through the jungle, dropping down into X’s base without much trouble from mobs. 

Xisuma pulled the trapdoor closed as he climbed down the ladder, flipping a switch as they went. A sharp hiss came from above, and a moment later a small noteblock tone chimed. As he stepped off the ladder, X took off his helmet, gesturing for Alex to do the same.

“That tone means the air filter is working. It’s not as good as the one in my last base, but I'm still working on it.” X said, tucking the helmet under his arm. 

With a sigh of relief Ex followed suit, pulling his own helmet off and taking a deep breath. Being raised in the The End had its benefits, but it also had the downside of making it almost impossible for them to breathe the Overworld air. If it hadn’t been for the life support built into their dad’s old helmets, the brothers probably wouldn’t have been able to survive out here at all.

“Right this way,”  
Alex followed Xisuma down the low-ceilinged corridor, walking in silence until they reached the main section of the base. 

Alex wasn’t sure what he had been expecting from the base, but it certainly wasn’t this.

The floors and walls were rough stone, far different from the aesthetic building above the surface, and the only real difference between this room and the tunnel he’d just left was the floor space. 

There were almost no decorations in the room aside from X’s ancient _Doom_ poster hanging over a bed in the corner. A few chests were neatly stacked along one side of the room, and a small kitchenette/crafting station was built into a nook in the wall. 

Other than that, the room was empty, a stark contrast to what Ex was used to seeing from the other Hermit’s starter bases. 

“Welcome to my humble abode,” Xisuma said, setting his helmet down on one of the chests and gesturing around the room.  
“Sorry it’s not pretty; it wasn’t supposed to be this plain, but I haven’t really felt like decorating,”

Xisuma looked like he was going to explain more, but Alex just shook his head, flopping down on the bed.

 _This is perfect!_ He said with a smile, feeling much more at home in this quick and dirty hideout than he’d ever felt in Xisuma’s finished bases. He could never understand how X and the other Hermits built their giant extravagant structures, but a cave like this was exactly what Ex lived in most of the time. 

“Oh. Okay. That’s good.” Xisuma said, blinking in surprise. In the dim light his glowing freckles cast a purple haze on his whole face, and Ex found himself staring. Had X always looked like that? Or was it just the lack of a helmet that threw him off?

“Care for tea?” X asked, his voice cutting through Alex’s thoughts.  
_Yeah, sure_ Ex said with a shrug, absently pulling his long white hair out of its bun as Xisuma put the kettle on. 

A moment later X handed Alex a steaming cup of tea, sitting down across from him on a chest.

“So. Tell me everything. Starting with him”  
Alex raised an eyebrow, taking a sip of his tea.

 _Just call him Herobrine. He’s not Voldemort or anything._  
Xisuma sighed, giving Ex a look.  
“I’m not going over this again, Alex. I just want to know what the heck happened to you.”

 _Fine, have it your way muggle._ Ex smirked, getting another eye roll from Xisuma.

_Truth is, I’m not really sure all of what happened. That void-storm came out of nowhere, and the big H himself tried to blast us... at least that’s what I saw. I almost lost the other Hermits out in the void, but figured we could still make the jump to another world._

Xisuma nodded, a look of concentration on his face. Alex waited a moment, but when X didn’t say anything he plowed on.

 _After that I can’t really remember much, just that I was mad at that Watcher scum for tracking us again. I sort of just grabbed onto everyone’s aura and jumped._ Alex chuckled a bit, realising how ridiculous that sounded. He knew it was stupid and risky to try switching worlds without a plan... they all could have just disappeared... but it had worked out, right?

_Somehow I got everyone through... that’s the part I can’t really remember. I woke up on that sandbar with everyone else, exhausted and ticked off... I thought that was it, that it would be the usual few days of until everyone started ignoring me_

Xisuma held up a hand, looking confused.  
“You were on the Spawn Island?”

 _Yeah I was able to see everything, but I might as well have been in another dimension._ Ex sighed, taking another sip of his tea.

“Say that again?” Xisuma looked at him hard, his purple eyes alight.  
_I said yeah, I could see everything, all that team-building crap all that._

“No, after that. You said you could have been in another dimension...”  
_You don’t think-?_

X bit his lip, staring into his cup of tea as he spoke.  
“I’m not sure... but if you were in some sort of shadow dimension- some sort of window through the void... that could explain why it was so hard to find your aura.”

Alex nodded, starting to see Xisuma’s point.  
_That could be why all the spells I tried using didn’t work. I’ve been thinking of this whole thing as some sort of invisibility, like I was shielded from the rest of the world. Not in a totally different world entirely._

Xisuma looked up at Ex, that excited light he always got from problem-solving in his eyes.  
“Exactly! If we could pull you back like how you teleport between worlds!!”

Alex paused, his rising hope blocked by another thought.  
_But how would I do that if I don’t know where I am in the void?_

Xisuma bit his lip thoughtfully, tapping the side of his cup.  
“I’m not sure... but I think I know someone who might be able to tell us!”

X drained the rest of his tea quickly, standing up to grab his helmet and bow.  
“Come on Ex. We’re going to see the wizard.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *wizard of oz intensifies*
> 
> Welp, life has been chaotic. Hopefully I’ll be back to the daily upload thing again if I can, but just expect this to still be super inconsistent in uploading.
> 
> Even though it’s short, I hope you enjoyed!! Suggestions and comments are welcome, and Tysm for getting this to over 200 hits; I never would have imagined anyone would latch onto this silly little fic, but all good your feedback has been so so nice. 
> 
> I love you all, hope you have a fantastic day!!  
> Dftba :)  
> <3 ST


	7. We’re Off To See The Wizard...

_Quiet footsteps sounded from the corridor. He waited, staring out at the void, just listening._

_The footsteps stopped right on the edge of the throne room, followed by the gentle rustling of wings. He could sense the Watcher’s unease, but he let the silence draw on._

_After a few moments, He cleared his throat.  
“Well? Do you have a reason to be here?”_

_He glanced at the Watcher out of the corner of his eye, the creature quickly dropping into a nervous salute.  
“ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ ʖᔑ∷∷╎ᒷ∷ ⍑ᔑᓭ ʖᒷᒷリ ʖ∷𝙹ꖌᒷリ, ᒲ|| ꖎ╎ᒷ⊣ᒷ. ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ ᓵ⍑╎ꖎ↸ 𝙹⎓ ꖎ╎⊣⍑ℸ ̣ リ╎リ⊣ ⍑ᔑᓭ ᔑꖎᒲ𝙹ᓭℸ ̣ ʖ∷𝙹ꖌᒷリ ℸ ̣ ⍑∷𝙹⚍⊣⍑.”_

_He smiled faintly, returning his gaze to the city before the throne.  
“Good.”_

_The Watcher shifted, clearly expecting more. He raised an eyebrow, not even looking toward the pathetic creature.  
“Was there more?”  
“ᒷ∷, ╎ ∴ᔑᓭ ⋮⚍ᓭℸ ̣ ∴𝙹リ↸ᒷ∷╎リ⊣, ∴⍑ᔑℸ ̣ ↸𝙹 ||𝙹⚍ ᓭ⚍⊣⊣ᒷᓭℸ ̣ ∴ᒷ ↸𝙹, ᓭ╎∷ᒷ?”_

_He turned to look at the Watcher, smirking.  
“Isn’t it obvious? We wait.”  
“ʖ⚍ℸ ̣ ᒲ|| ꖎ╎ᒷ⊣ᒷ-”_

_He held up a hand, and the Watcher closed their mouth with a barely perceivable sigh.  
“I said we wait. I am not wasting any more resources on those brats than necessary. Rest assured, they will reveal their location soon enough; then its merely a matter of taking them back.”_

_The Watcher bowed low, nodding their head.  
“ᔑ⍑, ||ᒷᓭ. ⍊ᒷ∷|| ∴╎ᓭᒷ, ᓭ╎∷ᒷ.”_

_Herobrine glanced back at the creature, frowning a bit.  
“Skip the pleasantries. Is there anything else to report?”_

_The Watcher shifted their wings nervously, slightly tilting their head.  
“ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ∷ᒷ ╎ᓭ ᔑꖎᓭ𝙹 ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ ᒲᔑℸ ̣ ℸ ̣ ᒷ∷ 𝙹⎓ ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ !¡ꖎᔑ||ᒷ∷- ⍑ᒷ ╎ᓭ ⊣∷𝙹∴╎リ⊣ ∷ᒷᓭℸ ̣ ꖎᒷᓭᓭ.”_

_He waved a hand, dismissing the thought.  
“Nevermind him. He will serve his purpose when the time is right.”  
Herobrine glanced over at the Watcher.  
“Is that all?”_

_The creature bowed once more.  
“||ᒷᓭ, ℸ ̣ ⍑ᔑℸ ̣ ╎ᓭ ᔑꖎꖎ ᒲ|| ꖎ╎ᒷ⊣ᒷ.”  
“Then you are dismissed.”_

_The Watcher saluted, then left as quietly as they had arrived.  
Things were finally falling into place. _

\---

Alex landed in front of the portal with a grin, folding his wings neatly behind his back.

_Haha! Told ya I was still the fastest!_

Xisuma landed behind him, his tiny bee wings still buzzing a little after he stopped.  
“Wow, bully for you.” He laughed, nudging his brother out of the way.  
“I didn’t expect you to use your real wings; I thought you had an elytra.”

Ex laughed, nudging Xisuma back with one of said wings. True, it had been a while since he had used them in a race (mostly since X’s only rule was that Alex didn’t show up with Watcher wings in the middle of his world), but he was glad to see that he still had his speed.

 _Pssh, and look like a commoner? Come on ‘Suma; you’re smarter than that._  
Xisuma shook his head slightly, chuckling.  
“Whatever, I’ll take you next time.” Ex laughed, shrugging.  
_Mhm, you keep telling yourself that. So… this is it?_

He gestured to the portal in front of them, marked with a sign that said “Scar’s Village.”  
“Yup. Care to go first?” Xisuma asked, grinning.

 _Don’t mind if I do._  
Alex jumped into the swirling purple gate, his vision swimming a bit as the world cooled down. A second later, he was back in the overworld, the heat of the Nether behind him. 

He stepped off the obsidian, but promptly jumped up with a yelp of surprise, flapping his wings quickly to keep himself hovering.

Below his feet was a misty purple void, full of rolling fog that seemed to descend into oblivion. He hovered there for a moment, panicking as Xisuma started to step out of the portal.  
_Wait!! The ground!_

X stepped onto the void, glancing up at Alex with a strange look.  
“What about the ground?”  
Ex looked between the swirling mist and Xisuma, confused beyond words.  
What on earth?! How are you-?

X looked down at his feet, chuckling as he realised what had Alex in a panic.

“Oh, this? It isn’t real.” He tapped a foot on the swirling glass.  
“Just a bit of building magic from Scar.”

Alex gave the ground another sceptical glance before landing, ruffling his wings indignantly. How was he supposed to know it wasn’t another death trap?  
_Hmph, I knew that. I was just testing you._

Xisuma grinned, raising an eyebrow at him.  
“Sure you were, hotshot.”  
Ex wrinkled his nose at X, not even caring that he probably couldn’t see it from under the helmet.  
_It just surprised me, that's all._

Xisuma just laughed, his freckles glowing brighter underneath his helmet.  
“Come on, Scar’s base isn’t far.”

Together they walked across the trippy purple floor, cutting through a stand of bamboo to reach the edge of a shallow lake. Alex hummed a tune suspiciously like “We’re off to see the wizard”, earning himself an unimpressed glance from Xisuma. They rounded the side of the lake, dark clouds starting to form overhead, blocking out the moon's light. Xisuma raised his bow, ready to shoot down any mobs that came through the area.

A moment later they came out of the shadowy back path and into the glow cast from what had to be the world's biggest (and only) snail house, although a towering wall of chests slightly undermined it. 

“Man, I don’t know how he lives with this mess,” Xisuma said, staring at the storage disaster.  
_Oh, he just doesn't care,_ Alex said with a shrug, popping open one of the chests and taking out a stack of Redstone and some books. He walked over to a random shulker box and dumped them inside with a grin, laughing as he caught sight of X’s shocked face.

“Alex!”  
_What?_  
“What the heck? You can’t just mess with people’s stuff like that!”

Ex grinned, closing the shulker.  
_Sure I can. I’ve been doing it for weeks now. He’ll come out and have no clue where his stuff went._

Xisuma scowled at him, crossing his arms.  
“You just like getting on people’s nerves, don't you?”  
Alex shrugged, walking over to the giant snail as if nothing had happened.

 _I have a reputation to uphold. Plus, I don’t mess with everyone, just people who have funny reactions. Like you._  
Xisuma rolled his eyes, and Ex just snickered some more.  
“You are hopeless. I’m going to get you back so you can go cause chaos in someone else's world.”  
Ex shrugged, happy to get on his brother’s nerves a bit.  
_Good enough for me._

Xisuma walked up to the ladder, leaned against the snail’s shell. The creature turned a bit to blink lazily at them, seemingly unfazed by the fact that it had a whole house built within its shell.

The brothers squeezed onto the small platform at the top, and Ex was surprised to find that there was no door at all; just an empty doorframe and a wide-open view of a semi-chaotic front room.

Xisuma raised his eyebrows at Alex, giving him a “don’t ask me” look before knocking on the doorframe.  
“Hey Scar, you home?”

A moment passed in awkward silence until a loud crash came from inside the snail, followed by an equally loud shout.  
“ _Merlin's Pants!_ I’ll be right up!”

A few more crashes shook the snail before a ruffled wizard tripped into view of the doorframe. Scar turned to the door, brushing himself off hastily before giving Xisuma a wide smile.

“Well, hello there, Mr Void! Fancy seeing you here at this hour.”  
Alex couldn’t help laughing in disbelief as he saw the wizard’s getup; it was just as crazy as ever.

Scar was dressed in a pair of red polka-dotted boxers, with a painfully bright purple robe over the top, complete with shimmery gold trim. A floppy wizard’s hat was pulled over his head, and he was sporting a long grey beard. Ex couldn’t tell if it was real or fake, but either way, it looked ridiculous, clashing with Scar’s natural dark-brown hair that peaked out from under the hat. 

The whole look was topped off by a pair of fluffy pink bunny slippers and a ruffled cat perched precariously atop Scar’s shoulder, an unamused look on her feline face.

“Hey Scar. Sorry for coming here so late, but I was wondering if you could help me out with a bit of a magical question.”  
Xisuma said, glancing at Ex out of the corner of his eye before turning back to the wizard.

“Of course, of course!! Always happy to help. Come right in!”  
Scar said brightly, ushering Xisuma through the empty door frame. Alex walked in after them, kind of enjoying his invisibility for once. Sure, Scar was a great guy, but he was just so obnoxiously cheery. Didn’t he ever worry about looking like a fool?

Alex’s thoughts were put on pause as he caught sight of the cat again. She had turned on Scar’s shoulder to stare directly at him, and Ex got a distinct feeling that the cat had no problem seeing him; It was quite frankly a little unnerving.

Scar pulled out a chair for Xisuma at a small table/workspace, pushing a slew of random materials off the surface.  
“Sit down! Sorry about the mess, Jellie and I weren’t expecting a guest… as you can see.”

X looked over at Alex, raising his eyebrows.  
“Actually, guests.”  
Scar paused his quick clean up, looking up in surprise.  
“Guests? Is someone else coming? I can get more chairs if we need them,”

“Actually, he’s already here,” Xisuma said plainly, glancing over at Alex. Scar followed his eyes, blinking slightly over Ex’s shoulder in confusion.  
“What do you mean?”  
Xisuma sighed, folding his hands in front of him on the table.  
“You might want to sit down… I’ve got a lot to explain.

\---

Xisuma spent the next half hour explaining to Scar everything that had happened, starting with the world switch. Alex paced across the small living room, generally taking away X’s concentration. Eventually, Ex got tired of that and leaned on the doorway, occasionally piping up to remind X of details he was missing, but mostly just observing.

Scar listened diligently, asking a few questions, but mainly just taking it all in. As they talked, his cheerful grin fell into a thoughtful frown, an aura of concern taking over his usual attitude. Soon, X had told him everything. Now he just had to hope the wizard had any kind of explanation.

“So.” Scar eventually sighed after Xisuma finished his story.  
“You’re telling me that that little bout of turbulence on the way here was from… Him? And somehow in the escape Evi- I mean your brother- got stuck in some sort of… shadow dimension?” 

“We believe so.”  
Scar nodded, stroking Jellie thoughtfully.  
“And he’s here now. Can he hear us, or just see us?”

“He can hear our conversation, yes.”  
Scar pursed his lips, seeming to consider this. Alex raised an eyebrow, looking like he was barely paying attention.

“So, just to be clear, you two are communicating telepathically?” Scar raised an eyebrow at Xisuma.

X paused, glancing at Alex; he'd never really explained to Scar about how their magic worked. Come to think of it, X hadn’t told anyone how his magic worked; everyone just wrote it off as an Admin thing.

 _Don’t look at me. He already knows that Herobrine is after us, so it's not like we’re being secretive here._ Ex said with a shrug, clearly bored.

Xisuma sighed.  
“Yes, we’re linked in void space…”  
Scar’s eyes widened in surprise.  
“But that's End magic, no player could-”

X held up a hand to stop whatever the wizard was about to say.  
“As Admins, me and Ex have a, er, unique set of abilities that would usually only be accessible through the End.”  
Scar tilted his head, looking thoughtful.  
“Hm, I didn’t know Evil X was an admin. That's pretty cool,”

_You know “Evil X” has a name you idiot._ Alex deadpanned, crossing his arms.  
_And like I would be a normal Admin. No thanks._  
Xisuma glanced over at Ex, who stared back at him with a slightly judgemental frown.

_You’re not going to tell him about the Watchers?_  
X sighed, talking back to Alex’s mind.  
“No, I’m not. I don’t see any reason to.”

Alex huffed, looking hard at X.  
_Don’t you think that might be a bit of a big detail if he’s going to help us?_  
Xisuma frowned at Ex, his mind already made up.

“I’ve told him what he needs to know. We’re not having this argument again.”  
Alex stared Xisuma down for a long moment, tension hanging tight in the air between them.  
Thunder rumbled in the distance, seeming to give voice to Alex’s dangerous expression, and for a tense moment, Xisuma feared he would push the matter again.

Finally, Ex sighed, shifting his wings in annoyance.

_Fine. Handle your people how you want. I’ll be out of your hair soon enough anyway._  
His voice was low, a reminder… or a warning. X breathed a sigh of relief; there was a reason Alex didn’t live on the server after all; they never could see eye to eye about their past.  
X turned away from Alex, back to Scar, who seemed to have missed Xisuma’s silent conversation entirely. The wizard looked up from stroking Jellie suddenly, looking a bit preoccupied.

“Sorry, I was just chatting with Jellie a bit. She seems to agree with your theory that Ex is in some sort of parallel dimension.”  
Xisuma blinked, a bit surprised.  
“ _Jellie_ agrees?”  
Scar nodded, his hat flopping with his head.

“Yes, Jellie. She’s actually quite smart,” Scar beamed, scratching the cat underneath her chin.  
“As my familiar she can do a bit of magic, and she seems to have picked up on where Alex might be.”  
Xisuma raised his eyebrows, a bit surprised that the cat could have figured that out.  
Scar stood, going over to a wall of barrels, tugging on his beard.

“If we can figure out where Ev- I mean Alex- is in the void, we can probably pull him back here…” He opened a few of the barrels, apparently not finding what he wanted.  
“The only issue then would be figuring out how to open a gateway back to this world…”

Alex walked over to take Scar’s empty seat, kicking his feet up on the table.  
_Can’t we just teleport me in like during a world switch?_  
Xisuma tilted his head, shoving Ex off the table. He wasn’t sure.  
“Would we be able to teleport him here?”

Scar turned back to X, some sort of crystal in his hand.  
“Theoretically yes… but it would be complicated.”  
Xisuma raised an eyebrow.  
“Complicated how?”

Scar sat down back in his chair, causing Alex to yelp and jump back up (despite being able to phase through the wizard)  
“Well, when a world switches, the universe is already moving around; that's a natural form of magic. Opening a rift between dimensions, however, is a bit more challenging. It would take an immense amount of power to pull Ex here from a shadow dimension.”

Alex sighed, going back to the door.  
_Wonderful. So helpful. Make the wizard tell us how much power we need, this is pointless._  
Xisuma sighed, clasping his hands together again.  
“Ok, so assuming we could pinpoint Ex’s location in the void, how much power would we need?”  
Scar pursed his lips, going back to stroking Jellie.  
“I’m not sure… a few things can generate a lot of energy; beacons, withers, end crystals, natural disasters…”

_Lightning storms?_  
Alex offered, waving a hand out the door. Outside thunder rumbled in the distance, threatening a storm.  
“Would lightning work?” X echoed so Scar could hear him.

“Yeah, lightning would be on that list, so would-”  
At that moment thunder shook the snail house, stopping the wizard mid-sentence.  
“You know what, that’ll work.” Scar said, grinning at Xisuma.

_Then what are we waiting around for?_  
Alex asked, spreading his wings excitedly.  
_Let's go play with lightning._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * _that awkward moment you realise your brother is still a chaotic force of power that you’d rather not have destroy your server... even if he does like strawberries_ *
> 
> I know this isn’t the best writing this time, but a lot has been going on for me irl, so please excuse the poor presentation. (The next chapter should be a lot more polished XD)
> 
> In other news, goodness it’s fun to write Alex’s chaoticness XD I have like pages of explanation for why he and Xisuma fight, but I ended up taking it out to keep the mysterious vibes :3  
> The lore will have to wait for another day, in the meantime take some of my recent art of Strawbabey (since I have nowhere else to post it XD)  
> I cant stop drawing him and X, it’s starting to take over my writing time lol  
> https://tinyurl.com/y3vll92p
> 
> As always, I love y’all to bits, dftba!!  
> <3 ST


	8. Thunderstruck

Xisuma watched as Alex jumped out the open doorframe of Scar’s house, flying out into the growing storm before X had a chance to say anything. So much for planning.

“Scar, you wouldn’t happen to have some way to channel lightning that won’t end in my brother getting fried?”

Scar pursed his lips, looking thoughtful. “I’m not sure... wait, I may! Give me a second.”  
The wizard weaved around the mess of shulker boxes scattered around his house, choosing a seemingly random one out of the lot.  
“Aha, here we- nope, not that one... how about... this!”

Scar picked up another box, hoisting it onto the table in front of Xisuma. “It’s gotta be somewhere in here...” the wizard dug into the box, sifting through what sounded like wind chimes, or a mess of falling LEGOs.

“Hmm, where is it? Regen, good luck, respawning, chicken nuggets, poison anecdote... ” X raised an eyebrow at Scar, standing to peer into the shulker as well. Inside was a collection of colourful shards of glass, all with tiny handwritten tags tied around them.

“Um... if I can ask, what are all these for?”  
The wizard glanced up at X, holding a few different crystals in his. “Oh, these are just how I choose to channel my powers. Far more stable than drawing on natural forces, especially for a feat of conjugation like this.”

Xisuma raised an eyebrow, a bit sceptical that a few pieces of glass would help; but then again, he wasn’t really familiar with regular schools of magic. Maybe the wizard knew something he didn’t. 

“Found it!!” Scar exclaimed happily, holding up a dark purple crystal like a trophy.  
“This will help call the lightning to us and harness its energy. Is your brother ready?” 

“Um yeah, he actually already left the snail.” Xisuma said awkwardly.  
“Oh, wonderful! He’s just getting a head start on us,” Scar chuckled, working his way back through the mess with a smile. The wizard grabbed a few more things from the chests around before finally walking to the door and dropping down the ladder.

“Let’s go then... I guess.” Xisuma shrugged, following the wizard to the ground. Outside the wind was starting to blow harder, the smell of ozone filling the air. Rain lightly sprinkled the ground, the droplets steadily growing bigger as they stood there. Soon it would be an all out rainshower.

“So where’s Evil Ex?” Scar asked, glancing around.  
Xisuma turned in a circle, squinting out into the dark area beyond the torches that surrounded the snail. “I’m not sure...” 

A large gust of wind blew around them, and X almost missed the sound of heavy wingbeats as Scar’s hat blew off.  
_Once again, I have a name you dolt._ Xisuma spun around to see Alex standing there, arms crossed as he watched Scar chase his wizard cap.  
“You know he can’t hear you, right? X asked, raising an eyebrow at his brother.

 _I don’t care._ Ex shrugged. _Also; I found a good spot to draw the lightning while you two were inside chatting or whatever._  
“Really, where?”  
Alex nodded toward a spot out in the center of the lake.  
_There’s an island with some ruins and a Sims crystal in the center. Nothing else is in the way, and if memory serves, that gem should make it easier to focus a lightning strike._

“Wait there's a what on the island?”  
_A Sims crystal. Just look, you’ll see what I mean._  
Xisuma rolled his eyes at Ex, squinting out over the darkened water. It was getting harder to see, the light sprinkle turning into a steady shower, and he had to wipe the droplets off his helmet visor. 

After a moment of scanning, he caught sight of the island in question, smirking as he saw the giant green gemstone in the center. It was perfect.

“Aha! I caught it!” Scar shouted triumphantly, waving his now soaked hat towards Xisuma. To X’s disbelief, he just wrung the hat out and placed it back on his head, seemingly not caring about the water that now dripped off the brim. Alex snorted, shaking his head.  
_Some wizard._

“Now, were you saying something?” Scar asked as he reached them. Xisuma chose to ignore Ex’s comments.  
“I was just chatting with Alex; he thinks he's found a good spot to capture lightning, over at that green crystal.”  
Scar nodded, looking intrigued.  
“Ah, that's the Creeper farm me and Grian built… actually, it’s a great spot, since the crystal will probably channel energy well! Lets go!”

Scar jogged towards the water’s edge, untying a boat that Xisuma hadn’t realised was there to begin with.  
“Tally ho!” The wizard laughed, jumping in. Alex flew off toward the island, a dark shadow against the already grey night sky. X took off right behind him, the rain making it a bit slow to maneuver through the air. 

Soon the trio had reached the foot of the crystal, the rain now coming down in sheets. Thunder rumbled all around, and X was comforted to know he had seemingly picked the right night to come get the wizard.  
“Okay, what do we have to do now?” Xisuma asked, raising his voice against the storm.

“Well, we just have to find some way to create a rift… so we’ll need something to draw in a lightning strike.” Scar looked up toward the giant crystal, shielding his eyes against the rain.  
“I think I know how, but we’ll have to be quick.” The wizard opened his inventory, pulling out what looked suspiciously like an End Crystal.

Xisuma and Ex watched as he carefully placed obsidian underneath the center of the large green gem overhead, setting the pink-purple crystal on top. The End Crystal sprang to life after a second, casting a bright purple haze through the rain.

“I’m going to set up my Crystal of Channeling at the very top,” Scar called out, holding up the shard of glass from earlier.  
“Make sure that Ex stands near the End Crystal; if this works it will rip open a portal when its struck and pull him through to our side.” Xisuma nodded, suddenly nervous.

“Is there anything I should look out for?” He asked as Scar pulled on an elytra.  
“Um… not really. Just don’t get close to the center; there's a chance it could pull you through to where Ex has been if you get close to the portal.” With that pleasant warning in mind, Scar rocketed into the sky, up towards the top of the green crystal.

Xisuma sighed, turning to Alex.  
“Well, this is it.” He said.  
_Yeah, let's hope this doesn’t just get me blown up._ Ex chuckled, nervously shaking the rain off his wings.  
“It won’t… at least I don’t think it will.” Xisuma laughed, but the emotion wasn't there. He was too nervous; they just had to hope Scar was right about all this. He didn’t want to think about what it might mean if this little experiment went wrong.

 _Well… I guess I’ll see you on the other side._  
Alex said, his tone more serious. He walked forward and gave Xisuma a brief hug, his wings wrapping around X. 

“I’ll see you on the other side, brother.” X said, glancing up at the sky. Ex pulled back, his face filled with determination as he walked toward the End Crystal.

Lightning crackled in the distance, a sense of deja vu washing over Xisuma.For a split second, he was brought back to that night, so many years ago when they had made their escape from the End. He realised with a start that Ex hadn’t changed his look a single bit all those years; aside from the criss-crossed scar across his face, Alex still had the same red uniform, same hairstyle, heck, even the same wings.

Crap, the wings. Xisuma had totally forgotten to ask Ex to hide them again before he came back to the real world. X glanced up worriedly at the stormy sky, barely making out Scar’s silhouette through the rain. It was too late to do anything about it; Alex would just have to mask them when he came through the other side.

The rain was driving harder than ever now, the storm fully upon them. Scar gilded down to the island, landing heavily next to Xisuma.  
“The crystal is set, now all we have to do is wait for the-”

As the wizard talked, a loud explosion stopped his words. Before either of them knew what had happened, a brilliant white light crashed down, blinding Xisuma and sending him stumbling back. He could vaguely make out the fiery outline of the previously green crystal overhead before the second shockwave hit. 

The world seemed to explode. Then everything went dark.

\---  
_He felt it, the moment it happened. Knew what they would be saying before the Watcher had even fully entered the room_

_“ᒲ|| ꖎ╎ᒷ⊣ᒷ ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ-”  
“I already know. Open the portal and get my task force ready. We leave at dawn.”_

_The Watcher paused for a quick moment before saluting._  
“||ᒷᓭ ᒲ|| ꖎ╎ᒷ⊣ᒷ.”  
The creature left briskly, and Herobrine grinned, rising. It wouldn’t be long before those traitors were within his grasp. 

_Speaking of which… he had something to do before he struck._

_He pressed the button hidden on his throne after the Watcher was out of sight, the sound of stones grating against each other echoing through the grand chamber. Walking down the now unveiled staircase, he couldn’t help but feel excited for the fight ahead._

_Yes, there was more than one traitor who would be getting their dues today._

\---

The wizard had barely finished landing when the lightning hit. Alex didn’t even have time to register what was happening before he was being pulled down, a dark rift opening below his feet. Ex’s heart jumped up into his throat, the sound of an explosion ringing in his ears as the world turned white. 

He panicked, trying to move out of the way, but the portal sucked him in faster than thought. 

Then the world went silent.

Alex slowly opened his eyes, stunned. Nothing moved. Nothing spoke, and incredibly enough, nothing hurt.

He looked around cautiously, not sure what to expect. 

Dark void space opened in all directions, and despite the lack of a floor, he was standing upright. Thunder rumbled gently in the distance, electricity tingling through the air. It felt surprisingly natural, just like teleporting between worlds. 

Ex took a deep breath, pulling off his helmet. It was peaceful here, familiar and safe. He took a moment just to breath, thinking through the next step. If this was like regular teleporting he just had to picture where he was going, right? 

Alex nodded to himself, finding himself relaxing. He could handle this. He travelled like that all the time… just usually without the strange circumstances. 

Ex closed his eyes, focusing. He just had to figure out where to go now.

Lightning crackled around him, and like flipping a switch, a door materialised ahead of him in the void. 

Alex grinned at the feeling of using his magic again, walking confidently toward the exit. Turns out that silly wizard actually knew what he was doing.

As he drew nearer to the door, he could hear more sounds from the other side. The storm was going in full force, heavy rain pounding on the other side. But there was something else… someone was yelling. 

Ex pulled back on his helmet, feeling a bit uneasy as he came closer. Something was wrong, he could feel it in the air.

He picked up speed, grabbing the handle to the door and jumping out into chaos.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Weeee, look at me being all productive XD inspiration struck and I just wrote like three chapters of this in a row
> 
> Place your bets now about where they messed up XD
> 
> (Oh and dftba!)  
> <3 ST
> 
> [edit; lol not gonna release the other chapters since I had a new idea after this and changed a lot of things around... cause yay indecisive writing :3]


	9. Collision

Xisuma didn’t remember hitting the water.

He didn’t remember being thrown back from the blast.

He didn’t even remember the shockwave, even though every other Hermit in the jungle would be wondering for days where the blast of energy had come from.

All Xisuma could remember was the lightning. Then silence; painful, bright silence.

And now he was drowning.

X struggled against the dark blue abyss dragging him down (although in hindsight, there was no way that lake ever got deeper than 15 blocks.) Water flooded his helmet, cold and intrusive where there had once been safe, comforting air.

He still couldn’t see anything, bright spots and water blinding his senses. All he knew was that he had to escape.

A moment later, and the air was gone, his helmet another anchor pulling him down. Xisuma blindly pulled off the helmet, praying he could escape before the water claimed him.

\---

One moment Scar was standing in the rain, shouting above the storm, and the next he was blown off his feet.

The shockwave was so unexpected that he barely even had time to panic before he was slammed into one of the ruined monuments, his head swimming in pain.

The clap of lightning was so tremendous, and paired with the sound of the universe literally ripping, Scar thought his ears would never stop ringing. Maybe it didn’t matter. Everything hurt anyway.

He blinked away the pain and blindingly bright spots in his eyes, only to have a split second of reprieve.

Then the creeper spotted him.

\---

The shockwave of energy rumbled through the jungle, bright and quick and so so baffling.

Everyone felt it, in varying stages. Some ignored it. Some pushed it aside.

Others sat alone in their confusion, waiting for the morning when they could discuss it.

Grian woke up in the dark, a searing pain running through his body.

He rolled over and clicked on his alarm clock, oblivious to anything but the ache in his back.

Had he fallen? Had he gotten hurt and forgotten? Was it bruises that was causing this sensation, or something else?

Whatever it was, it made it very hard to sleep.

\---

Xisuma surfaced, rain pounding him mercilessly. He gasped for air, sore limbs churning to keep himself afloat.

The Overworld air burned his throat, choking him almost as much as the water had.

He took a deep breath, tears sparking in his eyes in panic. He needed to get out.

Xisuma gripped his helmet, paddling to the jungle shore. Every breath was agony, he could barely see, but at least he wasn’t underwater.

The sound of explosions broke through the confusing din of the storm. 

He looked around for the sound, forgetting his pain for a moment as he searched for the threat. He could vaguely make out the silhouettes of creatures moving on the distant island, bright sparks of smouldering fire illuminating some sort of fight. His mind suddenly cleared, feeling returning to his body as X realised what must have happened.

Xisuma shook the water out of his helmet, not even bothering to properly catch his breath before flying off to the island, bow already drawn. He had a friend to save.

\---

Scar crawled away from the explosion, his right side laced in pain. The ringing wasn’t going away, no matter how many times he shook his head. 

The wizard vaguely noticed something warm trickling down his ear… that wasn’t too good.

Another green menace shuffled toward him, those dark, empty eyes staring him down as the creeper started swelling. 

Scar threw himself to the side, adrenaline bringing him to his feet right before the mob exploded.

Frantic, he opened his inventory, quickly grabbing a shield and backing up to the edge of the island.

A gaping crater stood in the middle of the island where the End Crystal had been, only the single block of obsidian standing where moments before there had been a beautiful landscape.

And underneath it all, far more immediate and terrifying than Scar’s lost flowers was the creeper farm, open to the stormy sky. Hundreds of the mobs were milling about in the layers of the pit, finding their way up to the surface in droves.

Scar felt his heart sinking as three more of the creatures noticed him, the others not far behind. 

The wizard raised his shield as two of them exploded, backing up as the third approached. When it finally blew, it almost knocked him off his feet, the shield splintering in his hand.

He opened his inventory again, searching for some sort of defence. All he had was a sword, but he had never been good at fighting single creepers hand to hand; let alone hoards of them.

“Help! Someone! Xisuma?!!” Scar called out desperately, unsure if anyone was even remotely close to hear him. Where had X gone? He glanced around but was faced with even more creepers and no trace of the admin.

For a split second, Scar panicked. Had Xisuma been killed in the blast? That couldn’t happen, could it? Didn’t X has some sort of magic that protected against creepers? Surely-

Scar didn’t have a chance to worry even longer when a dark shadow landed heavily in front of him, holding up a shield against another exploding creeper.  
“What the-”   
“Get down!” The voice was gruff and static, as if heard over a broken radio.

Scar crouched anyway, a flaming arrow whizzing over his head as the shadow fired on the creepers. Lightning flashed, briefly illuminating the yellow-clad figure standing guard over the wizard.

“Xisuma?!”

The admin glanced down at him, briefly nodding before returning to his rapid-fire assault on the creepers. The wave of mobs let up for a second, and X grabbed Scar’s arm, pulling him behind one of the pillars.

“Find a way to stop them!” Xisuma shouted, his voice eerily warped, an undertone of panic underlying every word. Scar nodded, crouching behind the pillar.

Think think think, come on Scar!  
He had to do something, X couldn’t keep the creepers back forever. 

The wizard opened his inventory again, hastily placing his ender chest. He pulled out a box of crystals, searching for something that could provide some sort of protection. There! A plan was forming, and Scar just had to hope it would work.

He quickly put the other things back in the ender chest, wrapping the crystal in the folds of his shirt. Don’t touch it, not yet.

“I’m going to go close the farm up!” Scar shouted over the driving storm, his voice painful in his ears.  
Xisuma turned toward him, eyes wide under the helmet.  
“You can’t! There's no way not to get blown up!” 

“I’ve got this! Just don’t shoot anywhere near the centre!” Scar grabbed the crystal in his hand, going invisible. He barely caught Xisuma shouting something else as he darted out. He really hoped he didn’t get shot.

\---

Xisuma froze his rapid shooting, panic rising in his chest again. Scar had just vanished- poof. 

He realised the wizard’s plan, thought it was smart even. If Scar could just close the hole without being spotted, then they wouldn’t have to deal with any creepers. 

Unfortunately, that also meant X ran the very real risk of accidentally shooting him. 

Creepers were still coming forward, and Xisuma shot all the ones that got close, heart rate rising every time he let loose an arrow.

A moment passed, the rain filling X’s head with fuzz, and then he saw the blocks start filling in.

Slowly but surely, the hole got smaller and smaller, cobblestone being built on top from the edges in. Xisuma kept shooting the creepers, nervously avoiding where he thought Scar was. 

\---

Scar crept across the edge of the vast hole, everything in him screaming for him to stop. This was insane, he was going to die.

But he didn’t. Was this working? He was going to succeed, it was going to be over and-

Lightning struck, a deafening sound crashing through the air.

A figure jumped down from the air, and Scar couldn’t help but stumble back.

The crystal slipped from his hand.

Down

Down

Down.

The wizard looked down at his very visible hands.

He only had a split second to curse before the figure and creepers alike stared.

For the second time that night, everything exploded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Weeee, I told you this was supposed to be a crossover eventually XD
> 
> Sorry for the radio silence lately, I’ve been trying to overcome some bad writing habits and make things more dynamic and interesting.
> 
> Hopefully this delivers, I don’t have a lot of time to type a ton, but I wanted to upload the same night as Siren so ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ 
> 
> Dftba y’all!   
> <3 ST


	10. Intruder

_Ten Watchers stood in a perfect line at the base of the monument, straight-backed and saluting. Kaleo looked over his soldiers with pride, recognising the impeccable presentation of Watchers with one goal in mind; to succeed._

_Gone was the relaxed manner from the barracks (although to an outsider the team wouldn’t seem to have hardly any emotion, even at their rowdiest) and everyone waited with bated breath for anyone to say something._

_Kaleo cleated their throat, folding their wings to hide their nervousness.  
“∴ᒷ ᔑ∴ᔑ╎ℸ ̣ ⍑╎ᓭ ᒷ ̇/ᓵᒷꖎꖎᒷリᓵ||’ᓭ ᓵ𝙹ᒲᒲᔑリ↸. ∴ᒷ ∴╎ꖎꖎ リ𝙹ℸ ̣ ⎓ᔑ╎ꖎ 𝙹⚍∷ ᒲ╎ᓭᓭ╎𝙹リ… ⚍リꖎ╎ꖌᒷ 𝙹⚍∷ !¡∷ᒷ↸ᒷᓵᒷᓭᓭ𝙹∷ᓭ.”  
Kaleo spoke briskly, somehow making the melodic Galactic language sound clipped and flat._

_They knew their soldiers were uneasy; a shifting of wings here, a nearly inaudible sigh. Nobody had to mention what would happen if they failed at this point… and none of them were planning to fail._

_As if He had been waiting for this exact moment, the obsidian gates swung open behind the Watchers, static energy filling the crisp End air._

_Herobrine swept out of the monument in a huff, glowering as he sized up the troops. Kaleo fought against the urge to flinch back as he stormed past, tensing his wings._

_“This one.” He pulled the last Watcher in line toward him, tone low and menacing as he handed the scout a single crystal containing his directions.  
“The missing one will be in the world by the time you get there; complete this, but make sure he knows you’re there.”_

_The selected Watcher nodded, looking slightly confused but standing tall all the same.  
Kaleo stiffened, unsure as to what the unorthodox directions could be. As much as they wonder what Herobrine was getting at, they kept silent; it wasn't their business to speak._

_The scout, however, was less intelligent._

_“ʖ⚍ℸ ̣ ᓭ╎∷, ∴⍑|| ∴𝙹⚍ꖎ↸ ∴ᒷ ꖎᒷℸ ̣ ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷᒲ-!”  
Herobrine glowered at the Watcher, levelling his sword at their chest with a menacing glare. _

_“Are you questioning my authority?”  
The scout froze, unspoken questions still hanging unanswered in the air. They quickly closed their mouth, vigorously shaking their head.  
“リ𝙹 ᒲ|| ꖎ╎ᒷ⊣ᒷ, リᒷ⍊ᒷ∷”  
The Watcher hastily answered, shrivelling beneath the white-hot glare._

_“I didn’t think so. Go.”_

_The scout nodded, and in a twist of purple flame they were gone. No one else spoke a single word as Herobrine turned on his heel back into the fortress, and it wasn’t until several minutes later that Kaleo finally breathed a sigh of relief._

_The battle was almost upon them._

\---

Xisuma wiped water off his helmet’s visor for what felt like the millionth time that night. The rain wasn’t quite as rough as a few moments before, but it was still unnervingly hard to see. The creepers seemed to have lost sight of him, but they still milled around where Scar was slowly filling in the top of the farm.

He was beginning to let his mind wander… back to Alex, back to the reason he was out here, soaked through with rain. He had almost relaxed (what could pass as a semblance of relaxation) when another flash of brilliant lightning struck the middle of the island.

Xisuma stumbled back on instinct, raising his bow toward the light when a dark silhouette emerged from the blaze, electricity crackling in frantic bursts off of a pair of huge imposing wings.

X could have passed out with relief right then as he recognised that familiar stance, Alex’s dark red uniform reflecting the moonlight. For a moment, he almost forgot the creepers, the storm, his friend standing invisible a few feet away. 

And then Scar turned visible.  
And then the creepers turned.  
And then there was hissing, and he knew what was coming next, but he was too far. 

Too far. 

There was a hand on his arm.

And the explosions started.

But Xisuma could not move.

\---

Alex stared down at the wizard that had appeared seemingly out of thin air at his feet. Time seemed to slow to barely a crawl as he took in the scene.

Lightning crackled off his fingertips, fragments of the bolt that had pulled him out of the void. The peace he had felt moments before out in the nothingness was gone, replaced by a wave of terrifying indecision. Ex wanted to go back. That would be easier than facing this.

He knew he could get out. No one would blame him for whatever happened next. He could fly off into the dying storm and the alarming number of charged creepers standing around wouldn’t reach him.

But Ex couldn’t leave. He had seen Scar. He knew what would happen if he flew away now.

Xisuma wouldn’t hesitate like this. There would be no thought if it had been his brother. Of course he should use his magic, block the explosions, do _something_ helpful. Anything to save his stupid friends, keep the peace; even if it meant risking his own life.

As Alex stood, indecisive, he was hit with the disturbing realisation that a part of him didn’t care. A part of him wanted to watch from a safe distance as the explosions came. He didn’t owe this pathetic wizard anything.

Suddenly, it was too late to think; time moved back to its normal pace and the first creeper starting hissing. Scar met Ex’s eyes in a split second of fright, and he knew there was no more running. No time left to think, Alex moved forward, just as the ground was blasted out from under his feet.

Explosions rocked the island, gouging craters deeper into the ground, but Alex jumped all the same, flying down into the expanding abyss to grab Scar by the arm. The creepers exploded in a chain, growing louder and louder until there was nothing else but static ringing in Alex’s ears.

He pounded his wings frantically, focusing on keeping both him and the wizard out of the blast. Shrapnel flew everywhere, and a flying chunk of rock almost knocked him out of the sky, catching him in the side. Ex faltered for a moment, his breath knocked clean out of his lungs. 

He shook off the pain, adrenaline the only thing left fueling his flight.

For a moment, only the deafening sound of explosions rang in his ears, a symphony to his shock. After a moment of struggling, Alex steadied himself midair, staring at the dark abyss below him. Dead static fizzed in his ears, his helmet’s receptors completely blown out.

Alex stared down at Scar collapsed in his arms, drawing a shaky breath. 

Old Ex would have left him for dead.

Old Ex would have saved himself, gotten off without this growing pain in his side.

Old Ex would have laughed… enjoyed the explosion, even.

Alex dove for the ground, suddenly shaking too much to stay in the air. Somehow the thought that he had been so close to just… standing by; it scared him more than he would ever admit. 

Ex landed roughly, setting Scar down. He stepped back, crossing his arms to try and still his frayed nerves. The rain was lighter now, but thunder still rumbled off in the distance. Alex fought against the bubble of apprehension rising in his chest, but he barely got a chance to catch his breath before a dark shadow fell over him and the air went cold.

\---

Ex whirled around, fists raised toward the unknown threat. His eyes widened in fright, the adrenaline rushing back as he stared up at the towering creature from his past.

Long-limbed and with an unnervingly wide grin, the Watcher peered down at Alex, masked face unreadable. Ex scrambled back, wings flared to keep himself from falling. He reached for a weapon but found nothing in his inventory. Bile rose in the back of his throat, and for a brief second Alex was scared he might pass out. How had it found him?

 _“Well hello, little traitor,”_  
The Watcher purred in Galactic, its tone sickly sweet and laced with menace. It reached out toward Alex with a single clawed hand, wings spread in excitement. Ex backed up further, fighting against the rolling emotions threatening to drown him.  
This wasn’t happening.  
This _could not_ be happening.

 _“His highness has been looking for you,_ ”  
The creature smirked, the powerful chill of dark magic rolling off of it in stark contrast to the melodic void language.  
“ _But you already know that, don’t you?_ ”

Alex silently glared at the Watcher, anger and panic warring in his mind.  
Think think think… what the hell could stop a Watcher? How had it found him?!  
Ex glanced around for anything that could help him fight, but the landscape was blown to smithereens.

“ _Not very chatty today, are we?_ ”  
The Watcher chuckled, a sound like glass breaking, and grinned smugly at Ex.  
Alex didn’t respond, still scanning the ground frantically. He swore under his breath as he spotted Scar still lying unconscious to the side, far too close to the Watcher for comfort.  
“ _Hmm, honestly this is a bit disappointing. I was informed you were the feisty one._ ”  
The Watcher huffed dramatically, still slowly advancing towards Alex.

“ _Shame. You know, your brother had much more to say a moment ago, I should have stayed to chat with him,_ ”  
Alex faltered for a moment, snapping his head up at the mention of Xisuma. He hadn’t even realised his brother’s absence, but it was glaringly obvious now. If anything had happened to him-

“What did you do?” Ex growled, anger winning over his initial panic for a moment.  
“ _Oh, bee boy is fine,_ ”  
The Watcher grinned, shrugging nonchalantly. Alex glared up at the creature, not even paying attention to what he was doing. He bumped into one of the ruins at the end of the island, cursing again.

“ _What was that? You know it isn't very polite to disrespect your superior like this_.” The Watcher said, his tone infuriatingly patronising. Alex may have run out of space to retreat, but he was far from giving in.

“Where is my brother?” Ex demanded, glaring at the Watcher.  
They just shrugged, taunting him.  
“ _Oh, he’s close. Very close,_ ” The creature laughed, throwing their cape to the side dramatically.

That single movement sent Alex over the edge. He wasn’t about to let some stupid lackey tease him, even if it was a loosing battle in the end. 

Before the Watcher could even see it coming, Ex had summoned his magic, sending a blast of purple-ish electricity straight toward its face.  
The fireball hit the creature hard, setting its pretentious smirk up in flames. The Watcher screeched, a terrible ear-splitting sound, and batted its flaming mask with its cloak.

A moment later the creature recomposed itself, its signature mask slightly charred, and smile evaporated.  
“ _You’ll regret that little traitor,_ ”  
It growled, waving a long clawed hand through the air.

Alex was just charging up another bolt of lightning but stopped dead in his tracks as a familiar yellow-clad figure stepped out from behind the opposite ruin, his helmet cracked and eyes glowing a disturbing white. Ex’s breath caught his throat as Xisuma stepped up next to the Watcher, red-hot anger flooding through him.

“What the _hell_ did you do?! If you hurt him-”  
“ _Then that would be very disappointing for you_.”  
The Watcher said, all the sweetness gone from its voice, replaced by a flat disgust. They pulled the vacant Xisuma toward them, a ball of purple fire blossoming in the creature's open hand, despite the light rain around them.

“ _Now, you’re going to hand over this world and come with me._ ”  
The creature sneered, keeping a tight grip on Xisuma’s shoulder.  
“Absolutely not.” Ex said, crossing his arms angrily. 

“ _Ah, so you would rather your brother die?_ ” The Watcher asked smoothly, the flame in their hand climbing higher.  
No, no he wouldn’t. But brainwashed or no, Xisuma would never give up the safety of this world or his friends, and Ex wasn’t about to.

“You hurt him, I’ll blow your face off. This world isn’t yours, and neither of us are coming with you.” Alex glared at the creature, but he was worried. Despite the lightning beginning to crackle off him in anger, Ex wasn’t sure if he could risk firing when the Watcher could just use Xisuma as a human shield.

The Watcher seemed to consider Alex, seemingly studying him. Ex determined to stare him down and save precious moments stalling as much as he could, but a slight sound to the side broke his attention. 

Alex only had a moment to notice the wizard creeping up behind the Watcher, their eyes meeting for just a split second before Scar jumped onto the winged menace’s back.

With a terrible shriek, the Watcher moved and the world was thrown into chaos.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone remember how this spawned as a lighthearted “haha watcher!xisuma is probably missing from FW cause Herobrine baddie is causing issues”?
> 
> Yeah, me neither XD
> 
> Sorry for taking so long, I’ve been working so hard to figure out how to get this one upcoming plot point to work naturally, and I’m also fighting my perfectionist social anxiety, because honestly y’all, I had no clue anyone would read this and now there’s over 500 hits (it’s only a teeny bit scary knowing so many of y’all like it ;w;)
> 
> Anyway, tldr is I’m dragging my feet because I want this to be perfect for y’all, I hope you enjoyed :3  
> Comments, ideas, and critiques are appreciated, don’t forget to be awesome, and remember I love you all so so much :)  
> <3 ST


	11. Held Together with String

The Watcher shrieked, rain flying in every direction as it flailed to regain its balance. Alex jumped out of the way as both Scar and the creature crashed forward. The Watcher slammed headfirst into the ruined pillar, sending the wizard tumbling into the muddy grass. 

“Scar! Move!” Ex shouted, charging up his magic again. He wasn't going to lose the opening.

The Watcher turned to Alex, an animalistic quality in its wild movements. Ex froze as he saw the creature, shock racing through him. Their mask had been knocked off-kilter, far too many eyes than any creature should have covering its face, all rolling in hatred towards him.

It was only a moment of hesitation, but it was enough to catch him off guard something to come crashing into Alex. 

“リ𝙹ℸ ̣ ᓭ𝙹 ⎓ᔑᓭℸ ̣” 

Ex fell hard, the breath knocked out of his lungs. He tried to stand, but a heavy foot caught him in the chest, white eyes glaring down at him.

It was Xisuma.  
Clipped, menacing Galactic, quite obviously the Watcher’s tone… but still Xisuma’s voice. 

“X-?!”

“||𝙹⚍∷ " ̇/╎ᓭ⚍ᒲᔑ" ᓵᔑリリ𝙹ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷᔑ∷ ||𝙹⚍, ꖎ╎ℸ ̣ ℸ ̣ ꖎᒷ ℸ ̣ ∷ᔑ╎ℸ ̣ 𝙹∷”

Alex struggled to suck in more air, the gravity of the situation weighing on his chest almost as much as his own brother holding him down. 

“Let him go!” Alex growled, twisting to glare at the real Watcher. He couldn’t look at X any longer.

“⍑ᒲᒲ, ╎ ↸𝙹リ'ℸ ̣ ℸ ̣ ⍑╎リꖌ ᓭ𝙹”  
The Watcher regained their patronising tone, straightening their mask as it used Xisuma’s voice. 

Ex couldn’t move, could barely breathe even, but that- it made him mad. 

Not just mad- angry. 

Livid. 

The Watcher barely had time to realise the shift in the air before a blast of purple-tinged lightning struck them full in the chest, sending it crashing back into the same pillar.

Alex grabbed Xisuma’s foot, yanking his brainwashed brother off of him. He quickly rolled to his feet, slamming X to the ground with a sickening thud. 

The admin’s eyes flashed back to blue for a split second before he passed out from the blow.  
A twinge of guilt shot through Ex, but he didn’t have any time to worry about it before the Watcher’s screeches drowned out all thought.

“リ𝙹! ∴⍑ᔑℸ ̣ ⍑ᔑ⍊ᒷ ||𝙹⚍ ↸𝙹リᒷ, ||𝙹⚍ ⎓𝙹𝙹ꖎ?!”  
The creature had backed up, all the usual composure of their race thrown away. Ex had never seen one of them surprised, but this had to be it.

“You’re not going to use anyone against me.” Alex shouted, aiming another blast of magic at the creature. 

The Watcher leaped into the air, the magic clipping the edge of its cloak. 

The garment erupted into fire, but they just cast it aside, dodging around Alex.

“You have nowhere else to go!” Ex shouted, seeing red as he approached the Watcher again. The creature took one glance at the insane look in his eyes before taking off again, diving to land next to Scar. 

The wizard made a valiant attempt to move, but he was already too injured to run. 

With a final wounded shriek, the Watcher grabbed the wizard’s arm. Alex could do nothing to help as the same blank expression Xisuma had had took over Scar’s face.

“⍑ᔑ⍊ᒷ ⎓⚍リ ⎓╎⊣⍑ℸ ̣ ╎リ⊣ ||𝙹⚍∷ "⎓∷╎ᒷリ↸ᓭ"; ℸ ̣ ⍑╎ᓭ ╎ᓭリℸ ̣ ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ ᒷリ↸, ℸ ̣ ∷ᔑ╎ℸ ̣ 𝙹∷”

The Watcher erupted into violet flames as Scar pulled out a sword, turning to face Alex with a look of fury in his blank white eyes.

The Watcher had escaped and left a pawn in the same move.

Scar rushed forward, but Ex ducked at the last moment, nailing the wizard in the gut. Both of them went tumbling to the ground, the sword skidding away. Both of the men glanced at the weapon, Alex diving for it as Scar yanked on his wings. 

The pair wrestled painfully for a moment, but Alex’s anger won out. He pinned Scar under his knee, wrenching himself free to grab for the sword. 

The fight drove to a grinding halt as he raised the blade against the wizard’s neck, the world freezing, as if holding its breath.

Rain fell.  
Somewhere thunder rumbled.

Ex took a deep breath, his racing heartbeat pounding in his ears. It was over.

And then there were footsteps, and a bow leveled point-blank at his chest.

And a voice.

“Stand. Down.”

\---

This couldn’t be happening. There was no way. 

At least that's what Xisuma kept telling himself, trying to still the shaking in his hands as he aimed a weapon at the only family he had left. 

Nothing made sense.  
His head hurt.  
His heart hurt even more.

He had no idea how they had gotten here;

A faint recollection of creepers, watching Scar.  
Then darkness.  
A sharp pain.  
Ex standing over him with hatred burning in his eyes.  
More darkness.  
And now this.

Waking up to find Alex holding Scar at swordpoint.

His own brother.  
The one who swore he had changed.  
The one who detested his past self.  
How had this all gone so wrong?

“Drop the sword.”  
“Xisuma-”  
“I said drop the sword!”

Xisuma stared at Alex, heart in his throat. For a long moment, Ex didn’t move- just glared back.

A painful cough drew both of their attentions to Scar, the wizard struggling weakly against Alex’s hold.  
Xisuma tightened his grip on the bow, but to his surprise Alex backed off, releasing Scar.

X glanced between the two of them in shock, quickly bending down to check on the wizard.  
He was pretty beat up, with a bad cut on his forehead, but other than that nothing was too serious. He grinned weakly up at Xisuma for a moment before closing his eyes with a sigh. Whatever had happened had taken its toll on the wizard.

“Happy?”  
Ex asked, pulling Xisuma’s attention away. He still held the sword at his side, but he didn’t make a move to fight. 

He looked almost… tired.

“No. Drop the sword.”  
Xisuma picked up his bow again, moving to stand in front of the unconscious Scar. His own head was ringing again, making it hard to focus.

Neither spoke.  
Ex didn’t move.

“Alex, this is your last warning. Drop it.”  
“And then what? Are you going to shoot me?”  
Ex asked exhaustedly, raising his hands flippantly.  
X flinched a bit at the movement, but he didn’t waver.

“If I need to. You aren’t going to threaten my friends and get away with it.”  
To his surprise, Alex laughed. Actually laughed, despite what was happening.

“Is that what this is about? You protecting your friend?”  
He looked up at Xisuma, as if genuinely looking for something in his expression.

X paused, wondering what the catch was.

“Yes, it is. I thought you had changed-”  
At this, Ex looked up at him sharply, cutting him off

“You have no idea what just happened, do you?”  
It wasn’t a question.

“I know you threatened my friend’s life. That’s enough-”

Alex held up a hand, shaking his head.  
“Don’t. Just don’t. You…”  
He sighed, seemingly at a loss for words.  
“I don’t want to deal with this right now.”

Now it was Xisuma’s turn to laugh.  
“Are you kidding me?! _You_ don’t want to deal with this?!”  
Alex crossed his arms, clearly unamused.

“Xisuma, I don’t even know where to start.”  
“Oh ho? How about why you tried to murder Scar?! Or why you knocked me out- that was you, right?”  
X snapped, feeling the anger rise in his chest despite his best efforts to stay calm.  
Alex frowned at the last remark, losing his even tone.

“Yeah, that was me. But don’t come in here ready to shoot without even knowing what happened.”  
He stepped forward, the bow the only thing separating him from Xisuma.

“Cut the crap, Alexander. I don’t want excuses. Just drop the sword.”  
X but back, pushing Ex back.  
Alex glared at him, throwing the sword off to the side with anger in his eyes.

“Now what, _Jonathan_?”  
Ex sneered, raising an eyebrow in challenge.  
Xisuma stepped back, the name hitting him harder than any blow. 

“Hm? What's the problem? I thought you said to cut the crap?”  
“Alex-”  
“Don’t “Alex” me. I can't hide behind a sword, you can’t hide behind a name.”

The brothers glared at each other, neither saying anything for a moment.

“Get away from me.”  
Xisuma snapped, stepping back. He hadn’t been this mad in years.  
Ex stepped even closer, not even acknowledging the bow aimed at his chest.  
“You don’t even know what happened. Why should you make the rules?”

“That’s enough.”  
Xisuma replied, his voice heavy with anger.

“You’re too wrapped up in being mad and pretentious that you didn’t even realise I saved your sorry butt. You didn’t even question that I would go back to being… evil?”  
Alex spit out the word as if it was a bad taste in his mouth.

“I didn’t-”  
X started, but Alex just shoved him back, a dangerous look in his eyes.  
“No crap, remember? You don’t even know what's going on, but you don’t care. You’re the hero, the goody-two-shoes. You must be right, perfect little ‘Suma.”

“Stop it.”

“Why don’t you put down your bow? Why don’t I ask you why you helped a Watcher, huh?”  
Xisuma blinked in shock, caught off guard by the question.

“Oh that's right; you can’t remember. Because you're still just an idiot like everyone else; to braindead to even give me a chance”  
Alex snapped, practically crackled with magic now, stepping toward Xisuma again.

“I said _that’s enough_!”

If he had been calmer, X would have heard the hurt in Alex’s voice.  
He would have realised his own magic bubbling dangerous on the surface.  
He wouldn’t have made the mistake.

Xisuma slammed his hands into Ex’s shoulders, shoving him back with all his anger.  
Purple fire lit on his fingertips, the kind of power he hadn’t used in years. 

Alex only had a moment to meet X’s eyes before he disappeared in a swirl of magic.

Xisuma stared, wide eyed at the spot where Alex had stood.

A heartbeat.  
His communicator buzzed against his wrist.

X didn’t look.  
He already knew what would be there.

The guilt was already sinking in.  
Dragging him down.

Xisuma found himself sitting, rain drizzling down on him.

He couldn’t think.  
Refused to read the chat, even if it was buzzing.

He didn’t want to see it.

**~EvilXisuma was banned.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~~Haha, angst go brrr~~  
>  This chapter is a prime example of brotherly love and properly dealing with your emotions. Don’t @ me.
> 
> This fight has been planned for weeks, but I ended up writing the whole thing in a journal the night chpt 32 of FW dropped... because apparently I deal with soul crushing angst by writing more of it XD (I ended up with a ridiculous amount of editing to go through after that)
> 
> Sorry if any story beats feel off, I just had a ton of material to work with (tho I tried my best XD) 
> 
> Other than that, just don’t tell Pho what I did to Strawbabey; she hasn’t read this yet, but if any of the dadskall chat caught wind of the angst they’d be coming for my kneecaps Cleo-style XDD 
> 
> Lol, yeah I think that’s all.  
> Love yall, sorry not sorry >:3  
> Dftba!  
> <3
> 
> [Edit; Hey y’all, SweetTea from the future :D Pho found the story and has indeed died, but I’m keeping that note for posterity XD]


	12. When There’s No Where Else To Run...

Alex gasped awake, landing on something hard.

He stumbled to his feet, fists raised and mind reeling from anger. He started forward to punch Xisuma but stopped before he’d even fully raised his arm.

X was gone.  
There was no one for him to hit, or yell at.

The island too was gone.  
The sky, and the rain, and the humid jungle night, all vanished. 

The only thing standing in their place was void.

Dark, staticy air, consuming everything within sight.  
Ex felt like the air had been knocked out of him, his anger falling away in utter shock.

If he was here, that must mean-

Alex quickly looked up to confirm his suspicion, but almost immediately wished he hadn’t.

High above, stretching like a never-ending storm was a ceiling of bedrock.  
There was only one place that looked like this… Ex had been here once; years ago, when he really had fit the title of “evil”. 

But now…?

Alex pulled his helmet off, suddenly shaking. Even in the familiar air, he felt like he was suffocating. The bedrock above was taunting, staring at him, beckoning him to just try and get back. 

It was almost poetic really… that he had been pushed down so far as to wind up underneath the world. 

His brother’s world. 

Ex ran a trembling hand through his hair, his heart sinking further as the situation fully set in.

Xisuma had banned him.

Without question or warning, just _poof._

_Gone._

_Banned._

_Ex couldn’t wrap his head around it. The idea left an ache in his chest, a bitter taste in his mouth; whatever analogy you could find, he was feeling the pain._

_Why had he been so stupid?_

_Alex was mad, but not at Xisuma; at himself._

__Shouldn’t have pushed him.  
Should have explained._ _

__Should have kept my temper._ _

__And apologised._ _

__And dropped the stupid sword._ _

Of course all the smart ideas came after the fight… good ideas never came when he was angry, hurting. All the things he should have done chorused in his head, loud and angry and so... exhausting. 

Alex sat down, his feet and legs glitching as he touched the lowest barrier of the void. Chill numbness spread up his limbs, but he didn’t care.  
Only this thin barrier of magic kept him from falling out of the world, but right now, Ex would have rather let himself go. 

A couple minutes before, and he would have been happy for a safe space to breath… now all he could hear was the deafening quiet against the roar of his own thoughts. 

Alex grabbed his helmet, turning it over in his hands in an attempt to distract himself. 

He caught a glimpse of his reflection in the visor, pausing for a moment to look at himself. 

The man staring back barely resembled the one he had once known. 

His eyes shone more red than normal; the purple tinge almost vanished. They weren’t supposed to look this tired. 

His freckles, too, shouldn’t glow so brightly under stress. That was Xisuma’s thing. 

Behind him, his wings rustled softly. Why had he fought X about them anyway?  
Ex waved a hand, masking the feathers easily with magic. He knew there was no reason to keep thinking about that stupid rule, but he wanted to do something that felt… immediate. 

Alex looked back at his reflection, surprised to find something else looking back at him.  
Tears. Those shouldn’t have been there either, rolling slowly down his face. Ex wiped them away, but he couldn't seem to stop them. 

When was the last time he had cried at all? 

It must have been years ago… before the fights, before the Hermits… before escaping… 

Alex shook his head, not wanting to think about the past any more. It was over, a brief point in his sorry history, and nothing more. 

He looked back at himself, shoving aside the past to try and find the familiarity in his reflection. He was still the same, right? 

Just… hurting. 

His eyes traced the old scars, crisscrossing in an “x” across his nose; those, at least, were constant. 

His hair too, falling out of its bun around his shoulders; that was all him.  
Despite himself, Ex chuckled, recalling all the times he’d fought with Xisuma over it as a kid.  
X had been adamant that no guy should have a ponytail… Alex had to wonder if that was part of the reason he still wore it like this. 

It didn’t really matter now anyway. Xisuma wasn’t here to tease him. 

Ex shook his head, turning the helmet over again so he didn’t have to face himself. 

Tears kept rolling down his face, silently echoing all the emotions Alex never wanted to feel. 

He was angry, at his own stupidity.  
Sad… to be trapped here, accused by the same people he’d try to save.  
Aching, for the trust he didn't feel anyone would ever give him.  
It was his own fault, he knew his past mistakes… but still. 

Above all though, Alex was sorry.  
For so many things. Today, and in the past. 

Ex sighed, looking around. He needed to make things right… but what could he do when Xisuma was up there, and he was stuck down here? 

He needed a plan… someplace to go, something to do. 

He couldn’t stay here; nothing would happen down here. 

So what else? 

Alex stood, an idea hitting him. 

He may not be able to make things right with Xisuma, but that hadn’t been the only problem tonight. 

Ex focused his mind for a moment, opening a random gateway and stepping through into a long hallway. 

It was time to fight back. 

_\---_

Xisuma sat on the floor of his starter base, a cup of tea forgotten in his hand, his arm resting on his discarded helmet. 

Scar sat across from him in thoughtful silence, stroking his cat Jellie. Aside from the bandage wrapped around his head, there was no more sign of the damage he’d taken that night… or rather, the previous night; according to the clock, the sun had risen an hour ago. 

Neither of them had spoken for a while, too shocked to keep up a conversation. 

Xisuma had brought Scar back to his base after… everything. 

He’d healed the wizard, fixed his helmet. 

When Scar had woken up, they talked for a long while about what happened… and then some. 

Xisuma didn’t remember the Watcher. 

They didn’t talk about it though… at least not about the one tonight. X got the sense that Scar would rather avoid talking about Watchers for the rest of his life if he could help it. 

There was no use discussing it anyway; both of them knew firsthand what they were like.  
No use running it into the ground.  
That left one thing to explain though. 

Everyone had seen the ban message in chat.  
Scar, however, had seen it in person. 

Now there was nothing left to say.  
No more secrets to cover up all the guilt that was threatening to drown him… all the parts of his past Xisuma had sworn never to tell anyone. 

Scar deserved to know; he’d gone through enough tonight at the expense of the brothers. 

So Xisuma had told him everything. About the End. And the magic.  
About not sleeping. And Admins. About his own scars… in that respect, he and Scar were all too alike. 

So many years of acting like a normal player had made him hesitant to open up, but Xisuma was done hiding everything. 

He may have been mad at Alex… but his brother had been right about some things. 

<“So…” Scar broke the silence, speaking for the first time since Xisuma had stopped talking. 

“So?” X asked hesitantly, snapped out of his thoughts. 

“Thank you for trusting me with everything.” Scar said, looking more serious than Xisuma had ever seen him. 

“You’re a good man, ‘Suma; even if you don’t think so right now.”  
The wizard gave him a sincere look, his green eyes glinting with compassion. X bit his lip, nodding a bit. He didn’t believe it….just knew that he didn’t deserve to have such a good friend. 

“We should be getting home.” Scar said, looking down at Jellie with a grin.  
“It's been a long night, and Bdubs will probably kill me if I don’t get sleep at some point.” Scar chuckled, standing. Jellie jumped out of his arms, giving Xisuma a knowing look. If he didn’t know better he could have sworn that cat knew exactly what was going on. 

“Thank you for listening,” Xisuma stood as well, offering the wizard a handshake. The sentence felt weak compared to everything swirling in X’s mind, but it was all he could do to just speak.  
“I’m sorry… about everything.” 

“Don’t stress it,” Scar smiled kindly, ignoring X’s hand and pulling him into a hug. 

Xisuma nodded, hugging his friend back. 

“And maybe get some sleep yourself, ok?” Scar said, stepping back a bit.  
“Magic can’t do everything, you know,” 

“Yeah, I’ll consider it.” Xisuma mustered a small smile. Maybe sleeping wouldn’t be such a bad thing for him. 

Scar nodded happily, and in a flash, he and Jellie had dissolved into a shimmer of light. 

X stood for a long moment, still looking at where the wizard had disappeared before he turned to collapse into bed. 

Maybe this time the nightmares would be just as exhausted as he was. 

_\---_

_Kaleo floated along the hallways of the crystal tower, spear held at the ready but mind drifting far from their assignment as a guard._

_Nothing stirred, but that meant practically nothing. Watchers weren't flamboyant unless there was a fight; the quiet hum of magic was the only true indicator of what was happening through the palace, and it carried the true tension what everyone was feeling._

_From the throne room, Kaleo could sense His Majesty talking to one of the scouts, his voice nothing more than a muffled echo._

_When the Watcher had first returned from his mission burnt and stumbling, Kaleo had been certain that they would be killed, but that hadn’t been the case. Herobrine had congratulated the scout, told him what a great job he had done._

_No one knew why, but they also didn’t question it._

_For the first time in years, He had been pleased by the traitor’s escape._

_Whatever was happening, Kaleo was just thankful that they were no the one standing in that throne room._

_It was a dangerous game._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so before I go into all the needless waffling, I owe a big huge omega thank-you to _goosebxrry_ for letting me use her idea of banned players going beneath the world :3 
> 
> You can read the original take on the concept in her story “Forgotten Below Bedrock”. All her writing is fantastic, especially if you’re a multi shipper like me, so pls go give her some love <33
> 
> So, into the nonsense;  
> Y’all ever wake up and just feel _productive_? I’ve been up since 6am writing this chapter (as well as the start of the next one) and I still have more ideas and plans to type up XD that’s honestly doesn’t happen often for me lol, but I’m hoping to finish the next two or three chapters today :3
> 
> Big shoutout to Henry’s Dragon for somehow sniffing out spoilers like two weeks ago XD I promised this would show up... eventually lol 
> 
> Tysm for reading, comments and feedback are much appreciated, and don’t forget to be awesome!  
> <3 ST


	13. Good Directions

_Two little boys stood in the middle of a room, an air of dejection in their stances.  
One had his arms crossed, his messy white hair hiding the tears in his eyes.  
The other stares at the ground, his head hung low and wings dipping toward the floor, shame written all over his face. _

_“Okay, boys. What happened?”  
Their father crouched in front of them, holding out a broken helmet with burn marks all over the visor._

_“X started it!” The boy with the white hair shouted, pointing toward his brother.  
“Nuh-uh, you’re the one who took it, so you started it!” The other brother shoots back, indignation in his voice.  
“Yeah, well you’re the one who tried to snatch it and made me-!”  
“To put it back! You were-”_

_“Boys! That's enough.”  
Their father puts a hand between them, and the warring brothers fall silent._

_“One at a time. You both get a chance to speak.”_

_The little boys look at each other, still clearly not pleased.  
“Alex, you can go first. What do you believe happened?” _

_The boy with white hair straightened, clearing his throat a bit dramatically.  
“Well, I was playing soldiers, and I was playing with the big helmet.”  
“This one?” His father asks calmly, holding up the helmet in his hand._

_Alex nods guiltily, not quite meeting his dad’s eyes.  
“Yeah, that one.”  
“Okay. Then what happened?”  
“Then Jonathan came in and snatcheded it away! He was a big meanie, and I tried to get it back, but he just was all ‘na na na na na, you can’t have it!’”_

_The little boy sang in a high-pitched voice, glaring at his brother.  
“Did not! You stoleded it from the office. I took it back for Papa.”  
“Did too! I had it first!” _

_Jonathan frowned at his brother, turning to his dad and pointing.  
“Alex can’t use the helmet! You said so, it's for your work. He broked the rules!”_

_Alex huffed, pointing at Jonathan.  
“Well, you snatched! So ha! You broked the rules too!”  
The other little boy paled a bit, his freckles glowing brighter._

_“I didn’t mean to breaked the rule! I really didn’t, Papa!”_

_To the boys’ surprise, their dad laughed out loud, scooping them up and setting them on his knees._

_“You two knuckleheads need to stop arguing.”  
The boys looked up at their father, dumbfounded._

_“Alex- I know you wanted to play, but next time ask me if you want to use the helmet.”  
The little boy nodded, relaxing a bit._

_“And X- you aren’t in trouble, but next time somethings off, tell me. Don’t just take things from your brother.”  
“Yes sir.” Jonathan nodded, a look of relief washing over his face._

_Their father wasn’t done talking, however.  
“I’m not mad about the helmet being broken. I can fix it. I am, however, disappointed about how it was broken.”_

_The two boys hung their heads, neither looking at the other.  
“I don’t want to know who did what, I just need you to look at me.”_

_He tilted both of their chins up, looking the twins in the eyes.  
“Does this look regular to you?” He held up the charred helmet, and both of them guiltily shook their heads._

_“No. Because it was broken with magic.”  
Their father set the helmet down and put a hand on both of the boy’s shoulders. _

_“I need you two to promise me not to use your magic to break anything again. You hear me?”  
They nodded._

_“We use our powers to protect people and do good things. Never to hurt them. Do you understand?”_

_“Yes sir.”  
“Yes, Daddy.”_

_“Good.”  
The tall man hugged his sons, grinning down at them.  
It was a lesson they needed to remember._

\---

Xisuma snapped awake with a stifling sense of guilt in his chest, the weight pressing down so hard that he forgot how to breathe for a moment.

Something was wrong-  
He’d broken the rules-?

Xisuma rolled over in bed, shoving twisted blankets off of himself.  
What happened?

As if waiting to ask himself the question, everything from the night before washed over him. 

Alex.  
The Watcher.  
Talking until he couldn’t even speak.  
His father, reprimanding him for using magic.

The words still echoed in his head, feeding the terrible monster growing in his chest.

_“We use our powers to protect people”_

He hadn’t protected anyone-

_“...and do good things.”_

He’d pushed them away; in more ways than one-

_“Never to hurt them.”_

Purple fire, his bow aimed at Alex-

Xisuma shook his head, rubbing his palms over his eyes.  
That couldn’t have been real. Just a dream, a nightmare.  
But not real. 

He would never-!

X’s gaze fell on his helmet, sitting so innocently on the floor, yet echoing the very same warning his father had told him so many years ago.

Would he?

Xisuma rolled out of bed, feeling anything but refreshed from sleep.  
His heart was beating faster than it should have, and he couldn’t shake that terrible bubble of guilt blossoming in his chest. 

He grabbed his communicator cuff off of the chest next to him, snapping it onto his wrist and opening the holographic screen. 

There was one way to find out.

Xisuma paused as he saw the time in the bottom corner of the screen.  
_21:45?_  
That couldn’t be right; he hadn’t slept over 15 hours! ...right?

X waved it away, opening his PMs to talk to Alex. 

Nothing.

When he typed it in the search, it too came up with an error;

_> unknown command.  
[user:EvilXisuma] not found. _

“No, no no no,” He muttered, switching back to the main chat.  
Most of the messages all followed the same veins; someone asking for blocks here, an invite to a base there, hellos and how-ya-doin’s all around. 

Despite the casual chat, Xisuma kept scrolling. He had to make sure.  
It would have been somewhere in the early morning… if it all had, in fact, happened.

A single message stood out, bold and glaring:

**EvilXisuma was banned**

Xisuma felt sick.  
It wasn’t a dream.  
It was completely real-

He didn’t know what to do. The shock from last night had kept him from panicking… at least he assumed so. But now?

He had to fix this… somehow. 

Xisuma took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. His freckles were glowing and pulsing with his heartbeat, a sure sign that he was losing his cool. 

_Think, Xisuma._

What needed to happen?  
He had to unban Alex and make things right… apologise and separate his nightmares from real life. And then take care of the Watchers’ infiltration. 

He paused, thinking.  
Had that been real as well?

X bit his lip, trying to clear the fog in his mind.  
This is why he didn’t sleep. Dreams and nightmares got in the way of thinking-

After a moment of trying (and failing) to puzzle out what he needed to do, X wrote a hasty message to Scar, asking to meet up. Maybe the wizard could help him figure out what happened, fill in the gaps.

Xisuma was about to hit send when he paused, guilt stopping him again. He didn’t want to drag Scar further into his mess; the wizard had already been thrown into enough because of him.

X sighed, finger hovering over the button. 

Screw it. He needed help. If he couldn’t rely on his friend, he wasn’t sure what he would do. 

A moment later, and Xisuma was pulling on his helmet, headed out toward the other jungle. 

He was going to fix things; no matter what it took. 

\---

The first thing Alex noticed was the doors. 

They had changed-

Not that he had expected the voidscape to remain the same; it just... caught him off guard. 

He sighed, realising just how long it had been since he’d opened one of these doors and just … explored. 

But today he had a plan; a destination. There wasn’t any time to go through to whatever interesting world that caught his eye.

Alex stepped out of his door, taking a long moment to look at its gleaming diamond-esque surface and golden patterns, all swirling around a golden pickaxe design. The word “Hermitcraft” was etched in blocky letter underneath it, simple, yet inviting. 

Inviting, that was, to everyone but him. 

With a sigh, Ex let go of the handle, knowing full well that he wouldn’t be able to come back in that way again. Not without being unbanned anyway. 

He had to wonder if Xisuma even cared that he’d been kicked out. 

“He’s probably enjoying his perfect world without me…” Alex mumbled under his breath, tightening his grip on his helmet. 

For miles all around, there were long corridors of doors, all floating in the void. Thousands of them, of every shape and size, all leading to a new world to explore.

Ex started walking, scanning the doors he passed. All he had to do was find the right door…. Which might be an issue in the field of gorgeous designs and unique gates.

There was one in dark onyx, gold designs running across its face, with some sort of large cat etched into the centre.  
And another, painted in what might have once been bright green, a blue and red inscription marred past recognition by scorch marks and obsidian cracks. For some reason that door never seemed to move, no matter how many times Alex came here; it was as if it had always been there.

As he went along, his mind started to wander, back to this stupid idea; the reason he was passing so many other doors. He needed to be ready for the next time the Watchers came. 

Because they would come. The one had mentioned Herobrine’s plan; he knew it wouldn’t end with just the one attack.

If the crazed demigod wanted to come after him, Ex was fine with that; he’d lived through the stupid Watcher schemes for years now, and never once been caught. 

But Xisuma, the others- they hadn’t.  
As much as Alex hated his brother right now, he wasn’t about to leave a target on their backs. 

This time would be different. He was going to stop them… he just had to figure out how. 

Eventually, the doors became steadily less extravagant, and he knew he was getting close. 

Now there were only a few that stood out, the majority just simple oak doors with plain letters engraved on the front. Here, it wasn’t strange for a door would pop silently out of existence, the other gates moving to fill its spot.

It was a strange place, but after years of wandering from world to world, Ex had gotten a feel for how it worked. It was the calm before the storm here.

Finally, he reached an older section of the seemingly infinite walk, stopping in front of a seemingly inconspicuous door. It was made of oak, just like the others, but instead of a name etched in its face, there was a small grass block carved into it. 

The handle, as well, was made of some sort of dark wood, and while it was physically similar to most of the others, it seemed much more well kept. 

Alex took one last breath of the void air before pulling his helmet on. 

“Fingers crossed.” He whispered to himself.  
Ex turned the handle of the door, stepping into a new world.

\---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess were he’s going :3 
> 
> Just guess! I dare you :D
> 
> Heck I’ll do a one shot or drawing comm if any of y’all can figure out what happens next XDD
> 
> Also I spent so much time writing about doors, I wasted h o u r s making useless references that got cut lol 
> 
> Hope y’all enjoyed, dftba!   
> <3 ST


	14. Doubt

Scar stood in front of the mirror, grinning from ear to ear as he examined his new outfit. 

He’d been spending the past hour or so trying on outfits at Bdubs' demand ( because apparently underwear and robes weren't “mayoral” enough... whatever that was supposed to mean). 

Despite his earlier objections to the idea, Scar had finally found something he loved; needless to say, it was fairly interesting.

“What do you think, Jellie? Anything I should add?” The wizard looked at his vibrant reflection, not sure what it was missing.

The cat looked up at him, giving his outfit a bored once-over before mewling dismissively.  
“Well you’re no help.” Scar huffed good-naturedly. 

He looked around at the mess of suits and dress clothes sprawled around his bedroom, excitedly grabbing a few extra accessories before coming back to the mirror. 

Perfect.

He was going to be the most amazing mayor on the whole server with a look like this.

“Are you done yet?”  
Bdubs called from upstairs, his voice tinged with laughter. 

“Give me a second!” Scar laughed, straightening his jacket one last time.

“How long does it take to put on one outfit?!”

“I’m coming, I’m coming!” The wizard called back, starting to make his way back to the upstair’s ladder. 

“Just have to-“ he tripped over a shulker box, earning himself a pretentious glance from Jellie.

“Oof- get around everything.”

The wizard stumbled through his messy room, half-heartedly shoving things out of the way. He paused to take a quick look at the train wreck of a room before racing up to the slightly cleaner upstairs.

“Ta-da!”  
Scar popped up from the ladder, grinning as he struck a dramatic pose.

“Waddaya think?”

To his credit, Bdubs didn’t laugh; just stared for a moment. 

“It’s um... very you.” He said, laughing incredulously. 

“I know, right?!” Scar beamed, looking back down at his outfit. He had traded out his purple cloak for a blazer in the same color, paired with yellow and brown pinstripe pants. The look was topped off by a huge red bow tie, bright blue sash, and glinting monocle.

It was ridiculous, bright, and totally out of the blue, but Scar couldn’t have cared less.

“Uh, what happened to the other outfits I gave you?” Bdubs asked, still fighting laughter.

“Oh, I decided to just mix them up!” Scar shrugged, clearly pleased with his hodgepodge of a suit.

Bdubs paused for a moment, shaking his head. As ridiculous as it was, he couldn’t bring himself to criticise; Scar was happy, and that was all that mattered.

“Well, I think it’s very unique.”  
He said truthfully, standing to pat his friend on the back.

“Unique! That’s a great word!” Scar clapped, bouncing on his heels.  
“I’m the going be the most unique Mayor!”  
The wizard laughed triumphantly, tackling Bdubs with a hug.

“Yes, yes you will,” Bdubs laughed, hugging his friend back.

“Hey, do you think I’ll be good at that whole mayor thing?” Scar asked, biting his lip worriedly.

“Of course! You’ll do wonderfully.” Bdubs said sincerely, looking the wizard in the eye.  
“You’re totally going to win. Don’t stress it!”

Scar nodded, grinning again.  
“I’m gonna win, but only because of my wonderful Campaign Captain helping out.” He chuckled, nudging Bdubs’ shoulder.

“Captain, huh? I thought I was a Sergeant?” Bdubs laughed, stepping back a bit to fix his bandana.

“Did I say that? Well I guess you’re being promoted.” Scar chuckled, about to add something else when his communicator buzzed.

“One sec-“  
Scar held up a finger, tapping opening his messages. The holographic screen expanded in front of him, a single notification blinking on his screen.

_/Xisuma > GoodtimewithScar/ Hey, I need your help; it’s about last night. Where can we meet up?_

Scar blinked at the screen for a moment, his grin faltering.  
Last night? 

He didn’t want to think about it.  
That... thing showing up.  
And Evil Xisuma being banned-

“Something wrong?”  
Bdubs asked, giving Scar a strange look. The wizard held up the screen for him to see, silently typing out his response.

Unsure how to phrase any of the questions running through his head, he didn’t bother being eloquent.

_/GoodtimewithScar > Xisuma/ I’m at Larry w/ Bdubs. Come on over._

“Are you okay Scar?” 

The wizard looked up, surprised to see concern on Bdubs’ face. 

“Yeah, uh, why?” He replied a bit hastily.  
“You just look pale all of a sudden,” 

Bdubs said, glancing back at the messages.  
“What’s up about last night?”  
He paused, brow furrowed.

“Does this have something to do with how you got hurt?” He asked, pointing to the bandage across Scar’s forehead. The wizard had waved it away earlier, but obviously Bdubs hadn’t missed that there was something else up.

Scar bit his lip, nodding a bit.  
“That obvious, huh?”

Bdubs pulled the wizard over to the desk, pushing him into a chair.  
“Tell me what’s wrong. Before X gets here and you freak out more.” 

Scar sighed, his excitement severely deflated. He couldn’t help feeling a bit apprehensive; if Xisuma was asking for help, it probably wasn’t any small issues.

After everything with the Watchers, Scar wasn’t sure if he really wanted to know what was wrong.

“Earth to Scar,” Bdubs waved a hand in front of the wizard’s face.  
“Hm? Oh, right.” 

Scar sighed, leaning back in his chair.

“Well... a few things may have happened last night....”

So, without anything else to do but wait, Scar told Bdubs everything.

\---  
_The throne room was silent as a grave.  
The Watchers didn’t dare breath._

_They were waiting.  
Watching. _

_He had been questioned, and someone was going to pay._

_Herobrine drummed his fingers against the throne, an unreadable frown on his face as he looked down at the Watcher who had stepped forward._

_“So. Kaleo, is it?”_

_The Watcher tilted their head up slightly in acknowledgement, no emotion showing behind their curved mask.  
“||ᒷᓭ, ᒲ|| ꖎ╎ᒷ⊣ᒷ.”_

_“I’ve heard that you believe my plan is faulty?”  
Herobrine spoke quietly, tilting his head at the insubordinate Watcher._

_They straightened, folding their wings tighter, but spoke in an even tone.  
“リ𝙹, ᓭ╎∷ᒷ. ╎ ∴ᔑᓭ ⋮⚍ᓭℸ ̣ ᒲ⚍ᓭ╎リ⊣ 𝙹⍊ᒷ∷ 𝙹⚍∷ ᓭℸ ̣ ∷ᔑℸ ̣ ᒷ⊣|| ∴╎ℸ ̣ ⍑ ᒲ|| ᓭ𝙹ꖎ↸╎ᒷ∷ᓭ; リ𝙹ℸ ̣ ⍑╎リ⊣ ᒲ𝙹∷ᒷ.“_

_“And what, may I inquire, were these musings?”_

_Kaleo stayed silent for a long moment, gauging the room’s tension.  
“∴╎ℸ ̣ ⍑ ᔑꖎꖎ ↸⚍ᒷ ∷ᒷᓭ!¡ᒷᓵℸ ̣ , ᒲ|| ꖎ╎ᒷ⊣ᒷ, ╎ ∴ᔑᓭ ᓭ╎ᒲ!¡ꖎ|| ∴𝙹リ↸ᒷ∷╎リ⊣ ∴⍑ᔑℸ ̣ ∴ᒷ ⊣ᔑ╎リᒷ↸ ʖ|| ᓭᒷ!¡ᔑ∷ᔑℸ ̣ ╎リ⊣ ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ ℸ ̣ ∷ᔑ╎ℸ ̣ 𝙹∷ᓭ.“_

_Herobrine frowned slightly, tipping his head toward the Watcher. If it was possible for the room to hold its breath more, it would have._

_“What do you not understand? They are less of a threat separated.” Herobrine said quickly, his voice rising. Something was slightly off in his tone- as if he was trying to refute an accusation._

_Kaleo drew in a breath, raising their chin slightly.  
“∴ᒷꖎꖎ, ∴ᒷ リ𝙹∴ ⍑ᔑ⍊ᒷ 𝙹リꖎ|| ᔑ ⍊ᔑ⊣⚍ᒷ ╎↸ᒷᔑ 𝙹⎓ ∴⍑ᒷ∷ᒷ ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ ᓵ⍑╎ꖎ↸ 𝙹⎓ ꖎ╎⊣⍑ℸ ̣ リ╎リ⊣ ⍑ᔑᓭ ⊣𝙹リᒷ, ᔑリ↸ ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ ᓵ⍑╎ꖎ↸ 𝙹⎓ ᓭℸ ̣ ᔑ∷ᓭ ╎ᓭ ⍑ᔑ∷↸ꖎ|| ╎リ ᔑリ ᒷᔑᓭ╎ꖎ|| ᔑℸ ̣ ℸ ̣ ᔑᓵꖌᔑʖꖎᒷ !¡𝙹ᓭ╎ℸ ̣ ╎𝙹リ. ╎ ⎓ᔑ╎ꖎ ℸ ̣ 𝙹 ᓭᒷᒷ ⍑𝙹∴ ∴ᒷ ᔑ∷ᒷ ℸ ̣ 𝙹 ∷ᒷᔑᓵ⍑ ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷᒲ ʖ𝙹ℸ ̣ ⍑ ∴⍑ᒷリ ⋮⚍ᓭℸ ̣ ᔑ ⎓ᒷ∴ ⍑𝙹⚍∷ᓭ ᔑ⊣𝙹 ∴ᒷ ∴ᒷ∷ᒷ ╎リ ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ 𝙹!¡ℸ ̣ ╎ᒲᔑꖎ !¡𝙹ᓭ╎ℸ ̣ ╎𝙹リ ℸ ̣ 𝙹 ꖎᔑ⚍リᓵ⍑ ᔑꖎꖎ 𝙹⚍∷ ᓭ𝙹ꖎ↸╎ᒷ∷ᓭ ᔑリ↸ ↸ᒷ⎓ᒷᔑℸ ̣ ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷᒲ.”_

_A ripple of agreement ran through the gathered Watchers, but was quickly quieted at the look on Herobrine’s face.  
“What you fail to see is none of my concern!” He snapped, clearly uneasy. _

_Herobrine rose from his throne, marching forward to stare the Watcher directly in the mask._

_“You will find out the plan in time. Do not worry about the whole concert; it is only your concern to play the part you have been given.”  
Herobrine whirrled out of the throne room in a huff, not deeming to look at the other Watchers._

_A collective sigh of relief came from the crowd, but they were far from easy,  
Kaleo had been very near trouble, likely at the hands of some anonymous tattletale. Their captain had been spared, but they had to wonder if it was because of Herobrine’s mercy… or lack of a plan._

_The seeds of doubt were there, and whether anyone would say it aloud, they all had to wonder; Had the mission He had deemed so successful been, in reality, a failure?_

\---

There was a knock on the doorframe, breaking through the quiet conversation with a jolt. 

Scar looked up, grinning a bit as he saw the yellow-clad figure at the door.

“Heya X,” Bdubs yawned, turning to wave at their new guest.

“Oh, um, hi. I’m not interrupting, am I?” Xisuma asked awkwardly, looking between the wizard and a half-asleep Bdubs.

“No, no, you’re fine. Come on in.” Scar said quickly, standing to grab another chair. Bdubs gave him a look, but didn’t say anything as the wizard pulled out another chair.

Xisuma sat down, looking between the two men nervously.

After a moment of silence, Scar cleared his throat.  
“So... what’s up?” 

“Well....” Xisuma wrung his hands, looking at the ground.

_please don’t say Watchers, please don’t say Watchers-_

“It’s about last night... and er, my brother.” X cleared his throat, looking at the ground. 

“Oh.” Scar said softly, a bit relieved.  
So not Watchers.  
As terrible as it was, he could handle this. 

“Yeah...” Xisuma took a deep breath, still not meeting the wizard’s eye.

“I messed up. I want to- have- to fix it.”

Scar nodded, waiting for X to continue. Yesterday he’d been more shocked and angry than Scar had ever seen him... the wizard wasn’t sure where this was going, but he figured it would be best to stay quiet.

“Wait, how did you mess up?” Bdubs asked sleepily, completely missing Xisuma’s tone.

“I thought you banned Evil Xisuma? Problem solved, right?”  
Scar kicked Bdubs under the table, shaking his head. 

“Ow, what?”  
Scar wrinkled his nose at him, the two exchanging a silent conversation for a moment. Xisuma stiffened, his freckles pulsing purple under his helmet. 

“I... didn’t think that through.” He said quietly, looking Bdubs in the eyes.

“It was a poor choice in the heat of the moment, and I want to fix it.” He said, the guilt tangible in his voice.

“And what does the wizard have to do with that?” Bdubs asked, too tired to be anything but blunt.

“Bdubs!”  
“What? I’m getting to the point.” He shrugged, ignoring another exasperated look from Scar.

Xisuma sighed, grinning a bit despite everything.

“I’m getting to that-“ he turned to Scar, eyes shining in the glow from his own freckles.

“I know you don’t want to talk about it, but I have to know; ∴⍑ᔑℸ ̣ ↸╎↸ ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ ∴ᔑℸ ̣ ᓵ⍑ᒷ∷ ᓭᔑ||? ᔑリ||ℸ ̣ ⍑╎リ⊣ ᔑʖ𝙹⚍ℸ ̣ ∴⍑|| ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ|| ∴ᒷ∷ᒷ ⍑ᒷ∷ᒷ?”

Scar sat up straighter, frowning a bit. So much for not being about the Watchers.

“╎ℸ ̣... ᓭᔑ╎↸ ᓭ𝙹ᒲᒷℸ ̣ ⍑╎リ⊣ ᔑʖ𝙹⚍ℸ ̣ “⍑╎ᓭ ᒲᔑ⋮ᒷᓭℸ ̣ ||” ꖎ𝙹𝙹ꖌ╎リ⊣ ⎓𝙹∷ ᒷ ̇/... ᓵᔑꖎꖎᒷ↸ ⍑╎ᒲ ᔑ ℸ ̣ ∷ᔑ╎ℸ ̣ 𝙹∷...”

Scar shook his head, the cut over his eyebrow throbbing form the moment. The image of that creature was back... he couldn’t get rid of it.

“I was unconscious for most of it... I don’t really know.” he shrugged, biting his lip.  
He could never get rid of them-

“Wait, whoa whoa whoa, back it up- you were unconscious for what?! When did you two learn the secret language thing?” Bdubs interjected, holding up his hands in bafflement.

Both of them ignored him, and the silence stretched for a moment.

“ℸ ̣ ⍑ᔑリꖌ ||𝙹⚍, ᓭᓵᔑ∷.”  
Xisuma said quietly, visibly pale, even beneath the helmet.  
Scar nodded, his knee bouncing nervously. 

“Of course.” 

“Are either of you going to explain?!” Bdubs stood, throwing his hands in the air.

“Your space language is freaking out my wizard, bee man.” He huffed, only partially kidding.  
“Can I at least google translate all that Mumbo jumbo?”

Xisuma looked up at Bdubs in surprise, chuckling a bit.  
“I’m sure Scar can teach you. Being your wizard and all.” 

Scar blushed, and Bdubs started laughing.

Neither of them noticed the look of dread in Xisuma’s eyes as he left the snail. He had what he needed to know... yet unbeknownst to Scar, X would have rather stayed in the dark.

He couldn’t just allow Ex back; he had to warn him... before it was too late.

\---

Alex stepped out into a bright spruce forest, the sounds of birds and life a stark contrast to the silent void he had just exited. 

He looked around, but couldn’t see anything but towering trees and rough underbrush. 

Perfect. Just perfect.

He turned in a circle, looking for any sort of landmark. It had been years since he had been here, and without the old signs he had no way to get to the village.

Ex walked forward a few steps, turned, and went back. The ground was springy underneath his boots, the air just warm enough for his full armour to be obnoxious.

He paused, straining to hear anything. 

After a long moment, the sound of a hammer hitting an anvil drifted through the trees.

Alex spun around in the direction of the sound, only hesitating for a moment. Nothing to loose anyway. 

\---

The walk was longer than Ex had anticipated. The sun was making its way down toward the horizon by the time he caught sight of the wall.

It caught him a bit off guard, finding the barrier up. Was this the right village? Last time there hadn’t been anything but a small fence guarding the town; now there was full ramparts. 

It took him a while to find the main entrance, but once he had entered the town he knew exactly were to go. 

Through the tow square, out past the lake and the market. To the edge of the wheat field (although it was significantly larger than he remembered)

Alex made his way onto the small dirt path through the crops, picking up speed as he drew nearer to his destination.

Finally, the field opened up to reveal a house tucked against a cliff. A very big house-

Had it always been like that? 

Apprehensively, Ex made his way up to the stairs, taking in the bursting garden ringing the base of the cliff.

He paused at the door, starting to reconsider. Had he come to the wrong place? Maybe he had moved, and Ex was about to knock on some stranger’s door.

After debating longer than he would like to admit, Alex finally raised his fist to the door and knocked three times.

A loud bark came from the other side of the door, followed by the scrambling of claws.  
“Shush, Max! I’ve got it,” 

The door swung open, a tall, red-headed girl stepping out and deftly shoving a panting whirl of fur out of the way.

“Hey, sorry about him,” she laughed, nodding toward the dog barking behind the door.

“What can I do ya... for.”  
Her smile faltered a bit as she took in Alex’s helmet and armour. Ex blinked back at her, already regretting this. Definitely the wrong house.

“Um, earth to Kool-Aid man?” The girl waved a hand in front of Alex’s face, her smile returned but her eyes calculating.  
“Do you need anything?” She asked.

“Oh, um, I-“ Alex stuttered, trying time compose himself. Gosh he hated talking to people.

“I was I was looking for Steven, but you’re not him, so sorry, I’ll be on my way-” Ex laughed, already turning to leave.

“Hey, wait!” The girl laid a hand on his arm, pulling him back. Ex jumped a bit, but stopped anyway.

“You’ve got the right place, Steve’s upstairs. I’ll go get him for ya” She laughed, turning toward the door again. 

She ducked inside, pushing the excited dog out of the way with her foot.  
“Oh, by the way, what did you say your name was?” She asked through the half-open door.

Ex shook off his surprise, clearing his throat.  
“Um, I’m Alex.” He stuck out his hand, grinning a bit despite the helmet.

To his surprise, the redhead gave him a strange look, as if trying to figure out what his problem was.  
“Alex huh?” She chuckled, shaking his hand.

“Shouldn’t be too hard to remember. I’m Alex as well.” She laughed, shaking his hand before ducking back inside. 

Ex was left to stare at the closed door in surprise, hand still outstretched. Apparently, he had come to the right place...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Scar is a bean; Scardubs is my favorite ship; Alex, meet Alex (insert Spider-Man pointing at himself meme)
> 
> Aight, so for the record;  
> I love shipping as much as the next person, but _for the love of God_ , don’t ship real people. Scardubs, Grumbo, whatever ships may pop up here, they are all Mine-sonas _ONLY_  
>  Secondly: Any ships in this fic are probably gonna stay implied (in the spirit of keeping with Siren’s goal of FW being for everyone no matter what) Y’all have been around the block, so no hate on gay relationships either. 
> 
> Kapesh? Kapesh XD 
> 
> Thanks for reading, love y’all sm   
> Don’t forget to be awesome!!   
> <3 ST


	15. Outsiders

_He paced the length of the highest tower, over and over and over, back and forth.  
Lush furnishings and expensive materials once decorated every surface, but in his rage He had blasted them all, the smell of smoke lingering within the crystal walls._

_That stupid guard had stood him up._

_They hadn’t bought it; He already knew the Watchers were going to be talking amongst themselves.  
“He doesn’t have a plan.”  
“The scout failed”_

_The balance between peace and mutiny was a very fine line, and Herobrine was on the verge of having his subjects cross it._

_Porcelain shards from the dead scout’s mask were still in the throne room, the only proof of the Watcher who had the misfortune of letting the traitors slip through their claws._

_He no longer cared if they knew of the Watcher’s execution; the murmurs of doubt were already rippling through the Crystaline Palace, and one worthless pawn’s death couldn’t change much._

_He had to figure out a way to instill order, before this got out of hand._

_Watchers were cautious and calculated by nature, but if they caught wind of their “all powerful” ruler not being all that... well, suffice it to say that they could be just as ruthless and bloodthirsty as they could be cold and poised._

_But it wouldn’t come to that. He would succeed-no, not just succeed; He would win, and play it off as all part of his initial plan._

_He nodded to himself, pacing toward the map of the Voidscape hovering across the far wall. Millions of glowing sparks marked the position of as many worlds, but He didn’t let that worry him._

_The scout may have failed to capture the deserted Admins, but they had at least had the brains to track at least one of them._

_Herobrine’s zeroed in on a single red light blinking slowly on the map, grim determination filling him. That was were he would send that stupid guard; that would throw the other Watchers off balance._

_Why send the captain who had just spoken against Him if He didn’t have a plan already?_

_None of the pathetic creatures would suspect a thing, and soon enough, this would all be one long past memory; peace would be restored, and most importantly, the traitors would finally receive the swift hand of justice._

\---

The End was cold.

Not unbearably so; just chill enough to wake Xisuma up.

He sat with his legs dangling over the void, listening to the sharp wind whistle through the caverns beneath the floating island. His helmet lay discarded behind him, perfect Void air filling his lungs. 

Normally, this would have been peaceful.  
On any other day, going to the End was special; a way to unwind, let his mind wander. 

Today, however, it was merely only a thin wall left keeping X from having a panic attack.

Three holographic screens shimmered in front of him, projected from his silenced communicator. It was all he could do to get rid of distractions; think through every step, no matter how trivial. 

The screen to his left showed a detailed map of Hermitcraft; part of it was overlaid in green, the rest in light purple. A progress bar creeped along at the bottom, showing how much of the world’s magical barrier had been scanned. So far there were no cracks in the defenses. 

Xisuma didn’t really relax. That just meant the issue hadn’t been found yet. 

To his right, a never-ending line of code ran by in Galactic, far too fast for him to read. Most of his power was going toward running this command; it was scanning the Voidscape, searching a million times further and faster than X could have projected on his own. 

That didn’t mean much, however. 

There was still no sign of Alex.

The final screen placed directly in front of Xisuma was the most tedious of them all. 

The debug screen was overlaid in the corner, monitoring for anything abnormal. If something happened… say if another Watcher broke through; he would be the first one to know. 

In the centre, however, lay a long list of data logs. Hundreds and thousands of stats; everything from how many players were currently sleeping to the world’s stability to how many picks Mumbo had already broken (forty-two). Xisuma slowly scrolled through all the raw data, hoping to catch something, anything that could tell him how the Watchers had gotten in… or possibly even where Alex had gone. 

It was boring, unglamorous work, but honestly, X was thankful for something to take his mind off things. 

He had a goal; a way to proceed that didn’t involve any kind of speculation. 

Out here he could at least rest easy doing mindless work, pushing aside the guilt filling his chest.

He just had to hope Alex was okay… wherever he had run to. 

\---

Alex tapped his foot, feeling more out of place than he had in a long time. 

It wasn’t really the house; it was sort of rustic, but mostly messy in a homely way.  
It wasn’t Steve and Alex fault either (the other Alex, that was)... at least he didn’t think so. 

They were obviously fun people; kind and welcoming, asking questions about his life and telling good stories.  
But that was just it. 

They sounded so… happy. Talking to _Ex_ of all players!  
It was as if they didn’t even notice the helmet or his quietness. 

Despite it being almost four years since he had even seen Steve, it turned out he was the same easy-going guy, falling into an easy banter almost as soon as he’d seen Ex.  
The other Alex also turned out to be pretty cool, asking about his armour and smiling all the way. 

Ex found himself staring at the couple, almost too baffled to carry a conversation.  
They were so… normal. 

And they treated him normal too.

He couldn’t remember the last time that had happened.

“So, Ex,” The other Alex laughed, leaning back on the couch.  
“What brings you ‘round here? I’m fairly sure you didn’t come here just to hear Steve ramble about how bad he is with a sword,” 

“Hey, rude,” Steve chuckled, poking her in the side with a mock scoff. Alex just shoved him back, watching Ex for his answer. 

He couldn’t help grinning, despite feeling so strange.  
Surprisingly enough, Ex found himself relaxing… despite having rushed here ready to fight down all his problems. 

Was it too late to just forget the Watchers and all that and just… hang out?

“So… about that… I actually came to get some, er… advice.” Alex said carefully, turning to face Steve.

“Advice? I’m not really sure how much he can help.” The other Alex laughed, thumbing towards Steve.  
“If you haven’t noticed he’s a bit of an idiot.” She stage-whispered.

“Ignore her, she has no clue what she's talking about,” Steve rolled his eyes goodnaturedly.  
“What do you need?” He grinned, gesturing for Ex to speak.

He took a deep breath, getting that feeling that whatever he said next was going to cause problems; Granted, that happened almost every time he opened his mouth and never stopped him, but it didn’t change the fact that his warning bells were usually right.

“I need to know how to beat Herobrine.”

Steve’s eyes widened, but Alex just laughed.

“How does the old rumour go? Something about not saying The Dark Lord’s name?” She chuckled again, smirking at Ex.  
“Sounds like you’ve already lost the battle, man.”

Ex didn’t respond, sensing something off in her tone. Steve still hadn’t spoken, let alone try to cover his shock at the question, but it felt like Alex was covering for him. 

“Sorry, but I’m not talking about the children’s story,” Ex said tersely, frowning.  
Alex’s smile faltered as she looked between the two stoic men, dropping the joking tone.

“Well I’m sorry, but Herobrine is a myth. Nothing more.”

“Oh jeez, don’t give me that. You know exactly what I’m talking about.”

The other Alex raised her eyebrows as if surprised by Ex’s bluntness.  
“Well then. What do you think-” She turned to Steve as if to ask something but stopped mid-sentence as she saw the look on his face. Her amusement evaporated, replaced by concern.  
“||𝙹⚍’∷ᒷ リ𝙹ℸ ̣ ᓭᒷ∷╎𝙹⚍ᓭꖎ|| ℸ ̣ ⍑╎リꖌ╎リ⊣ ᔑʖ𝙹⚍ℸ ̣ ℸ ̣ ᒷꖎꖎ╎リ⊣ ⍑╎ᒲ?”  
She exclaimed, catching Ex completely off guard. It was a rare occurrence to meet a human who spoke the Void language; even more so to hear it spoken so well. There was no trace of that weird human tone most players got when using it.

As much as he anxiously wanted an answer, Ex had to be a little impressed.

Steve sighed, running a hand through his hair in thought before replying under his breath.  
“∴ᒷꖎꖎ, ⍑ᒷ ∴ᔑᓭ ╎リ ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ ⍊╎ꖎꖎᔑ⊣ᒷ ᔑℸ ̣ ℸ ̣ ᔑᓵꖌ… ╎ ↸𝙹リ’ℸ ̣ ꖌリ𝙹∴ ∴⍑ᔑℸ ̣ ╎’ᒲ ⊣𝙹╎リ⊣ ℸ ̣ 𝙹 ᓭᔑ||.”

Ex looked between them, frowning. Did they think he couldn’t tell what they were saying?

“╎⎓ ⍑ᒷ’ᓭ ↸ᒷᔑꖎ╎リ⊣ ∴╎ℸ ̣ ⍑ ⍑╎ᒲ- ||𝙹⚍ ᓵᔑリ’ℸ ̣ ℸ ̣ ᔑꖌᒷ ℸ ̣ ⍑ᔑℸ ̣ ∷╎ᓭꖌ.”  
The other Alex said, raising her voice.

Steve looked at her for a long moment before turning back to Ex and switching back to English.  
“I don’t know why you might be anywhere near Herobrine, but there’s no answer to your question. There’s no stopping Him.” 

Ex frowned, shaking his head.  
“Yes, there is. I saw you do it back in BeaconTown. You just don’t want to tell me.”  
He refused to leave without an answer.  
He wasn’t going to go back to the void defenceless.

Steve sighed, shaking his head slightly. His smile was gone, replaced with the same tired look Xisuma always got when answering a stupid question.

“I… I don’t have any good explanations for you.”  
Steve said, holding his palms up.

“But if you have anything to do with Herobrine… the only thing you can do now is run.”  
He sounded serious, but that only fueled Ex’s annoyance.  
He wouldn’t- couldn’t- accept running. 

“You didn’t run. And I don’t intend to.”

Steve froze, giving him a strange look.  
“What happened then-”  
“Is what could happen again.” 

Ex bit his lip, hating himself for bartering.  
“Please… I can’t go back without some way to fight Him.”

Steve looked at Alex, a quick yet decisive conversation passing silently between them.  
“╎ℸ ̣ ’ᓭ ||𝙹⚍∷ ᓵ⍑𝙹╎ᓵᒷ…” she said softly, glancing back at Ex.

“Fine… I’ll tell you what I know.”  
Steve said, looking nervous yet determined. Ex smiled, forcing down the urge to cheer.

“But promise me one thing-”  
Ex nodded.  
“Anything. Lay it on me.”

Steve grinned slightly, raising an eyebrow at Ex.  
“When you beat Herobrine, tell him his brother says hi.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is brought to you by Shameless Self Promotion and Imposter Syndrome!!
> 
> Steve and Alex are lowkey way better in my other work, _The New Dream_ if you like cheesy amnesia fics 👀
> 
> Also also, on a much more serious note, this was legitimately the hardest chapter to write yet, and I can’t even begin to express how relieved I am to have something to finally show.
> 
> I started having the absolute worst migraine and panic attack combo I’ve ever experienced a couple days ago, plus several sleepless nights worrying about wether this fic would live up to anyone’s expectations XDD
> 
> In hindsight, I’ve been pretty anxious about nothing all that important, seeing as this is still just a fun fanfic, but it’s still been needlessly difficult on the back end ;w;
> 
> I just want to thank you all so so so much for enjoying my story, I wouldn’t be able to do any of this without your support <33  
> I’m super excited to show you all what I have planned next, we’re so so close the getting to the real Featherweight overlap :D
> 
> I hope you’re having a wonderful day or night, remember that you’re loved, and above all, dftba!!  
> <3 ST


	16. Forgotten

Alex walked slowly through the voidscape, barely able to concentrate.

His head hurt from thinking so hard, that miserable bubble of emotions back in his chest.  
He’d gotten his answer… but for some reason he felt no better.

What good was knowing how to beat Herobrine if he would never be good enough to put it into action?

Glared down at the starry expanse below him, angry at the world.  
He didn’t ask for this. He didn’t want things to be so stupid and difficult.

Why couldn’t things just be easy?  
Would it really be so hard for the universe to give him some sort of break?

It only made sense that his enemies were essentially unbeatable… it fit the pattern after all.  
Nothing got to be easy; not for him, and not for anyone around him.

First it was his dad.

Then it was the people he met; there was never a chance to make friends… have a home.

He told himself he was fine with that. 

But now?

Now even his own brother was gone.

It felt like some sort of terrible karma.  
But he’d changed, right?

He’d become a better person… right?

He didn’t know.

Maybe he would always be like this; angry and unwanted.

No matter how tired he was.

Tired of running.  
Tired of fighting.  
Tired of everyone hating him.

He didn’t want to cause problems, but it felt as if he couldn’t help it.

Like he was doomed to be like this forever.

Alex looked back at the pristine wooden door off in the distance, the last visible trace of the beautiful world he’d just left.

It wasn’t his to enjoy.  
That was no place for him… despite what Steve and Alex had said, he knew staying would have just brought all his issues to them.

He didn’t want to do that.  
Nobody needed his problems.

But that left one big problem.

What to do next?

Ex had been certain he would have a plan after this, but nothing was coming to him.

He so desperately just wanted to rest… but there was nowhere that was truly peaceful anymore.

He was banned from the only place he had ever even been offered an escape.

This void, it wasn’t comforting. Just an in-between.

It was supposed to take you to a new world; a new adventure… yet Ex couldn’t picture himself being content anywhere.

Alex kicked at the nonexistent floor beneath him, wishing for something to do; whatever it took to get rid of these dumb emotions.

Why had he been so stupid?

If he’d just listened to Xisuma, calmed down…

No.

Xisuma hated him.

He didn’t have to listen to him.  
Ex hated his brother… or so he told himself.

Even that sounded hollow.

Alex sat down, angrily realising his problem.

He didn’t hate X.

He hated himself.

When had that happened?  
He used to like himself a lot.

Hadn’t he chosen to go off alone because of that?

He used to enjoy his own company… now it felt like that was just a long-lost fantasy.

Ex sighed, leaning his head into his knees.

Why couldn’t things just go back to like they used to be?

When he had a real home? And a good life… back when nobody was chasing him and looking over his shoulder didn't feel natural?

Alex paused, a thought striking him.

Maybe he could go home.

He stood, looking around at the millions of doors scattered around him.

He could do it. 

It was a bad idea.

A monumentally stupid idea.

But he could do it anyway.

Who was going to tell him no?

Alex pulled himself to his feet, a tiny burst of hope pushing through the terrible feelings in his chest.

He could do it… he just had to be smart.

Ex bit his lip, only hesitating for a moment longer before starting to walk.

Maybe it was a bad idea… but there was nothing left to lose anyway.

\---

The endermen were strange creatures.

Xisuma knew this, of course, but it had been a very long while since he had really spent time thinking about it. 

Once, when he and Alex had been very little, they had tried to learn to speak the Ender language.

They had followed endermen around for days, hiding away in nooks and crannies as they tried to figure out what the creatures were saying. Every day they would add more nonsense phrases to their notebook, usually scaring away the endermen in the process of bickering over it. 

Sitting out here, with the only sounds the soft whistling of wind and the enderman’s curious conversations brought back so many memories.  
Their father’s raucous laughter at their shenanigans, the time Ex had gotten into his first fight with one of the end creatures. It was bittersweet, to say the least, yet Xisuma still smiled at the memory.

Xisuma had to smile at the bittersweet memories. He and Alex had been so close as kids… X had blamed their divide on Alex’s own rebellious tendencies, but in the wake of last night, he had to wonder if he was more of the problem than he had considered.

Just another thing to add to the growing list of apologies he owed Ex when he found him.

Speaking of which…

Xisuma turned back to the data log screen, still scanning the world info from last night. It had taken some digging, but he had finally found what he believed to be the exact time Ex had teleported between the two dimensions. He was hoping something in there would point towards were he had gone if his other code didn’t work.

The old data had been a steady stream of regular info, but sometime around midnight, a huge spike of glitches had spread out. X wondered if this was the work of the same shockwave that had knocked him into the lake. 

Everything from a mass of mobs dying to blocks disappearing; it was all there. A notice that an End Crystal had exploded, a spike in lag, and even… a player account notice?

Xisuma made to pull up the note, surprised.  
World glitches were normal, but he’d never seen an anomaly happen to a player in specific.

The file took a moment to decode before a red error message showed up.

**unauthorised command.**

Xisuma frowned. What did that mean? He was the Admin… it should have opened immediately. 

He quickly typed in a few more commands, and was met with yet another error. 

**unauthorised command.**

That wasn’t right. He should be able to see all of the logs. 

X bit his lip, wondering what to do next. He couldn’t just leave the file alone, right?

The wind ruffled his hair, an enderman warbling forlornly in the distance. 

An idea struck him, but he hesitated.  
He could just use his magic directly to open it… it wasn’t wrong to try, right?

Xisuma ran a hand through his hair, pausing a moment longer before finally deciding to do it.  
He needed to check everything; at least that's what he told himself.

He picked up his communicator, snapping it back on his wrist. The two extra screens shut down, leaving him with only the data logs showing. 

Carefully, he closed his eyes, focusing on the little device. He hadn’t tried using his magic like this in a really long time, but supposedly channeling admin powers should work as well as typing a command.

X carefully sent out power, aiming for the locked file.  
Something gave way, a shockwave running through Xisuma.

He jumped back in surprise, his eyes snapping open.

A flash of red, and then the file was open, scrolling slowly by in Galactic.

Apparently it had worked?

Something about disruptions in a player account… abnormality... glitch… on and on it went, but no mention of any of the Hermits?

Xisuma scanned over a few more lines, and then again. 

It took three tries before he finally found it.

̇/ᒷꖎᑑ⚍ᔑ

He stared at the name for a long moment, surprised and confused.

Xelqua.

Something was wrong with… Grian?

X started to scroll back to the start of the data log, but before he could the screen flashed white, turning back to the encrypted version.

**unauthorised command.**

Xisuma stared at the screen, baffled.

What on earth was going on?

He started to type again. If he could just get through this one file-

A loud double tone broke through the calm End air, and X jumped.

“What the-?”

Xisuma turned around as the sharp tone sounded off again from somewhere behind him.  
He felt like he had heard that sound before, but he couldn’t put a finger on where…

A long moment passed, and then it came again.

With a start, X realised it was from his helmet, lying a few blocks back.  
That was so strange; It had never done this before-

Again, the tone sounded, the urgency of the noise making him jump to his feet.  
The sense of deja vu was infuriating as Xisuma made his way over to pick up the helmet, closing down the screen on his communicator.

Whatever it was, it felt urgent… a warning signal of some sort.

Xisuma wicked up the helmet, turning it over in his hands, yet the alert didn’t stop.

He blinked in surprise, finally understanding where he knew the sound from.  
It was something out of Doom… low health maybe?

X smiled a bit, wondering if his helmet had always been able to do that.  
It had been his dad’s after all… it could probably do all kinds of things.

Xisuma slipped it on as the double tone repeated, and was surprised to see a message of some sort on the inside 

X froze, heart pounding and unsure what to do.

This was a distress signal. But who’s?

\---

Ex stood at the base of an elaborate tower, a knot of apprehension clogging his throat.

Yellowish endstone made a natural stairway to the large obsidian doors, simultaneously familiar and alien.  
The purple static of the void spread high above, framing the singular building that had remain in his mind all these years.

This was stupid; he knew that, but he didn’t really care.

He shouldn’t be here.

There could be Watchers;

There could be traps;

Herobrine himself was only five cities away.

There was no protection here… yet strangely, Alex couldn’t focus on the danger.

Only the tower ahead of him.

After a long moment of standing in the open, he finally got up the nerve to move.  
With every step, memories seemed to stir in his mind.

A million times he’d walked this path.

A million times he’d opened this door.  
The handles hadn’t felt quite so easy to reach all those years ago...

Ex took a deep breath before stepping into the main hall, nostalgia threatening to floor him.

Everything was exactly as they’d left it.

He’d expected something to change; some trace of the Watchers, or some End creature destroying it, yet it was all perfectly frozen in time.

His home.

Xisuma had been wrong. Nothing had taken it… but that was almost worse than anything.

Alex padded down the hallway, looking up at the sloping crystal ceilings, the shimmering obsidian floors.  
Around the corner, up the stairs.  
Retracing the steps he’d taken that final day… the last time he thought he’d ever see his childhood home.

Nothing had changed in the tower…. But everything had changed for him.

Ex reached the second story in a daze, looking around the comfortable living room.  
The holographic decorations had long-since died out, leaving the walls surprisingly bare, but nothing had shifted.

Alex glanced around, almost subconsciously looking.  
Nothing else had changed… did that mean everything?  
Was it still here?

He moved toward the kitchen, toward the table where he’d spent so many evenings with his father and brother. Ex already knew what he was going to find.

There.  
Right in the middle, exactly where he’d left it.

A single communicator.

Ex’s heart fell a bit as he picked it up, already knowing what it would say.

As he snapped it on his wrist, a hologram flickered to life, the sound of old static filing the air.  
It showed two boys, dressed in armour too big for them, their wings brushing against each other.

One had a single fresh cut across his eye, still swollen and bright, yet when he spoke from the recording there was no trace of pain there.  
“Dad-”

The other had no scars, just a sad grin and a messy ponytail.  
“If you find this-”

“We’re leaving. The Watchers know you’re missing and are starting to attack...”

“They couldn’t get us though!! X stopped em!”

The young Xisuma grinned as his brother wrapped a wing around him.

“It's no longer safe here… so we’re going to the Overworld you told us about.”

“Yeah, and we’ll stick together like you said. Those Watchers won’t know what hit em!”

“He means we’ll stay out of trouble.”  
The holograph flickered as Xisuma frowned.

“But if you find this… we’ll be waiting for you too.”

Young Alex nodded solemnly, pulling on his helmet.

“We’re gonna save people and be badasses, just like you were.”

“Mhm…”

A moment of silence passed in the recording before young X spoke again, his voice quiet.

“Goodbye.”

“We’ll see you again.”

The holograph shut down with a small ding, but Alex barely noticed.

It had been nine years… yet no one had ever found the recording.

Ex set down the communicator, moving back to the main room.  
He’d come here to feel at home, but all he could think about was how much things had changed.

He’d hoped… wished… that maybe his dad could have seen it.

But he was gone. Really gone.  
Xisuma was just as distant too...

Alex was the only one left.

He took off his helmet, glaring down at his reflection.  
He was supposed to be strong, yet for the second time in a day, tears were sparking in his eyes.

Why?

When did everything become so miserable?

Angrily, Ex threw the helmet across the room, not even bothering to watch as it slammed into the wall.  
A sickening crack echoed through the tower, followed by a short tone from the helmet, two beeps right after another.

Great.  
He’d broken it.  
Just like he broke everything.

Alex felt sick.  
Things weren't supposed to be like this.

He stumbled forward, but sat down heavily, too tired to keep standing.

He was so lost...  
This place would never be the same… it was just another building now.

Defeated, Ex pulled his knees to his chest, letting loose the flood of tears he must have been holding back for years.

He didn’t care if the Watchers found him anymore.  
He didn’t care if he stayed here for the rest of his life or if he ran.  
It was all the same.

All he cared about was the aching in his head, the tears streaming down onto his knees.  
He hated himself for it, but he couldn’t stop crying now. 

It felt kind of nice to give up.

\---

After a while, the tears stopped coming.

Ex felt drained. Shaky.

From the other side of the room, his helmet kept beeping, steadily.

He didn’t move toward it, just let the sound keep throbbing in his ears.  
Ex rubbed his eyes, slowly moving his stiff limbs.

He didn’t know how long it had been. He didn’t care.

He was about to stand when something… changed.

The air turned cold.

Everything turned quieter, and a chill moved up Alex’s spine.

“⍑ᒷꖎꖎ𝙹 ꖎ╎ℸ ̣ ℸ ̣ ꖎᒷ ℸ ̣ ∷ᔑ╎ℸ ̣ 𝙹∷”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hmmmmmmmm sucks to be Alex.
> 
> This was surprisingly easy to write, I think I might need to reconsider my life if this level of angst is the most comfortable thing to create XD
> 
> ((Edit; Holy crap- I just realised this fic has over a thousand hits and oh my gosh I think I’m gonna cry. I can remember when I didn’t think anyone would find this, let alone like it.   
> Tysm guys, y’all know I love ya XD   
> (Oh, and dftba :3)  
> <3 ST


	17. The Void

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Um, I don’t do this much, but this chapter probably needs some trigger warnings XD
> 
> Angst, possibly some themes of depression?, um a bit of blood, plus... well you’ll see. This isn’t exactly a happy chapter ;w;
> 
> Enjoy! Don’t say I didn’t warn you :3

_Kaleo made their way briskly down the long halls, the pitch of the floor becoming steeper and steeper the higher they went._

_Of course, walking was just another small act of defiance to add to the growing list of infractions. If they had really wanted to be there already, they would have flown._

_After a moment, Kaleo reached the surprisingly dainty-looking crystal doors, laying a slender hand on the handles. From behind the feeble barrier, angry pacing could already be heard. Whatever lay behind these gates, it couldn’t be good._

_He was angry._

_With a barely audible sigh, Kaleo gathered their thoughts, masking any compromising ideas from the prying magic of his fellow Watchers.  
They swung open the doors, stifling their surprise at the sight of the area._

_The room was surprisingly messy, far cry from the lush decorations that had once decorated it. Herobrine paced up and down the length of the room, a scowl permanently painted on his face._

_He looked up at Kaleo, frowning even deeper.  
“Well, it appears our little rebel has finally joined us.”  
He sneered, gesturing for them to join the two other Watchers standing at attention._

_Kaleo could feel the disdain rolling off his fellow officers. They were from the Obsidian palace, two cities over, and it was clear that they had already swallowed whatever rumours they’d heard about the captain who had challenged Herobrine. Fine. Let them think whatever._

_No one was here to make friends._

_As the Watchers moved over for Kaleo, Herobrine waved a hand toward the opposite wall._

_A large, 3D holograph swirled to life from an unseen projector, filling the room with ghostly light. It was a map; supposedly a scale recreation of the Voidscape._

_In the dead centre, the dark purple Watcher crest glowed, a rectangle with broken corners that marked the position of the True End. Miniscule pinpricks glowed across the whole dark expanse, each one a world unto itself._

_Halfway across the map, a dark red light blinked on and off. That would be the target._

_Herobrine watched the map for a moment before turning back to the Watchers.  
“I’ve called you three here to enact the final stage of my plan.”  
He put a heavy emphasis on “plan”._

_“You are to hunt down the traitor currently on the move. His location will surely change, but for the time being this is his position.”_

_He gestures toward the red glow, glaring at it as if just being mad at the dot would finish the traitor._

_“I don’t care if you bring him back dead or alive, just that he ends up here,” Herobrine growled, going back to his pacing._

_“When he’s captured, you will return him to me, no detours.”  
He gave a look to Kaleo as if he didn’t fully trust them to come straight back._

_They nodded slightly, looking back at the map._

_Something had changed-_

_The light was moving._

_“ᒲ|| ꖎ╎ᒷ⊣ᒷ-”_

_“Silence. Your opinion is not required nor requested.” Herobrine said curtly, earning a round of snickering from the other Watchers._

_Kaleo frowned slightly, looking back at the map.  
The blinking marker teleported.  
Once.  
Twice._

_“╎⎓ ╎ ᒲᔑ||-”_

_“You may not,” Herobrine said, glaring up at Kaleo.  
“You would do well to not interrupt me.”_

_“ʖ⚍ℸ ̣ ᓭ╎∷-”_

_“What did I just say?!” Herobrine stepped forward, eyes blazing white as he held a finger up to the Watcher._

_“If I hear another-”_

_“||𝙹⚍∷ ᒷ ̇/ᓵᒷꖎꖎᒷリᓵ||; ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ ᒲᔑ!¡”_

_Herobrine looked up in surprise, turning to the other Watcher who had spoken.  
Kaleo let out a slight sigh of relief as He spun around to watch the map._

_A ripple ran through the Watchers next to Kaleo, the surprise clearly mutual._

_The red marker was now over the Watcher crest._

_The traitor was in the True End._

_“Well then.”  
Herobrine smirked, his anger dissolving a bit._

_“It appears our traitor has decided to pay us a visit.”_

\---  
They were here.

He’d been found.

This was it-

He’d known it was coming, yet he hadn’t been worried.

How had he been so stupid?

“⍑ᒷꖎꖎ𝙹 ꖎ╎ℸ ̣ ℸ ̣ ꖎᒷ ℸ ̣ ∷ᔑ╎ℸ ̣ 𝙹∷”

The voice cut through his delusions, cut through the stupid pain and the grief, right to his very core.

Alex couldn’t do anything but stop himself from hyperventilating, every fibre of his being frozen in shock.

Cold metal pressed against the base of his neck, immediate and terrifying.  
He could feel his pulse where the blade touched, practically see the white eyes at his back.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

He’d screwed up.

Captured.  
Helpless.  
Crying on the floor like an idiot.

They were going to try to kill him, and he had no one to blame except himself.

“Stand. Slowly.”

The same voice; commanding and gruff. 

He almost stood, too.

For a split second, Ex wondered if it would be easier to just give up.

He was sick and tired of trying.

Almost as soon as the idea popped up, Alex shoved it away, ashamed he had even considered it.

He was angry and hurt and tired of all of this, but he was not a coward.

He was not giving up.

Not yet.

A long moment passed. Ex didn’t move, frozen in defiance and fear.

“Any day, little traitor.”  
The voice again, clearly getting restless.

But there was something else.  
Something wrong with that voice.

The way the syllables were hissed, the somewhat melodic tone; somehow, in that instance, Ex knew- or rather felt- that whoever was speaking wasn’t human.

That wasn’t the voice of a player.  
It was a Watcher.

He subconsciously raised a hand to an old scar along his jaw, glaring at the thought of being held at swordpoint by one of those stupid creatures.

Not Herobrine.  
A Watcher.

He refused to lose to them.

While Ex was trying to puzzle out what to do, his discarded helmet beeped again from the side of the room, obnoxiously piercing through his thoughts.

“What is that?”  
The Watcher asked sharply, the sound of wings rustling accompanying them.

“Tell me! Now!”

Suddenly, Alex had a plan.

He just had to find a way to get away from the Watcher.

“My…. helmet-”  
Ex spoke hoarsely, finding that he wasn’t entirely faking after crying so long.

“I…. need for…. to breath-”  
He hated how weak he sounded, but kept his head down all the same, reaching toward the device.

A long moment of silence passed as the Watcher seemingly considered, the air tense.

Buy it. Come on.

“...please.” 

Somewhere off to the left wings rustled, and his heart skipped a beat.  
There was more than one-

“Fine. Get the helmet- carefully.”  
The first voice said gruffly, and Ex started to move.

“Not you.”  
A second voice, deeper than the first. 

The blade at Ex’s neck pressed closer, just enough to draw a trickle of blood. He froze again at the small twinge of pain, looking up as another Watcher moved from behind, crossing the room to reach his still-beeping helmet.

Alex barely breathed as the Watcher approached him, their curved mask turned toward him in disdain.  
So maybe that plan hadn’t entirely worked.

The creature dropped the helmet in front of him, looking up as if communicating with the other Watcher (Watchers?).

“Put it on. No funny business.”  
The first voice said cooly. Maybe it wasn’t as dumb as Alex had expected.

Ex glared at the ground, reaching out slowly to grab his helmet.

“Hurry up, ℸ ̣ ∷ᔑ╎ℸ ̣ 𝙹∷”

Alex took a deep breath, tensing as he pulled the helmet on.  
All he needed was a small opening-

The blade left his neck for a split second, adrenaline driving him forward before the Watcher even had a chance to catch their mistake.

Ex willed his wings back into place, throwing himself into the air a moment before the sword came slicing through the air.

“||𝙹⚍ ⎓𝙹𝙹ꖎᓭ! ∴ᒷ ⍑ᔑ↸ ⍑╎ᒲ!”  
The first voice shrieked.

Alex turned midair to watch a tall Watcher aiming a spear up at him, shoving another with a sword to the side.

He barely had time to dodge before the weapon was flying through the air, the shaft cutting clean through his wing.

Ex fell, landing heavily on his shoulder, the blood draining from his face in pain.

“DON’T STAND THERE!! KILL HIM!!”  
The same Watcher who had thrown the spear snatched the sword out of the other Watcher’s claws, crossing the room in two bounds. A third creature joined them, spinning a wicked-looking mace in their hands.

Panicked, Ex raised a hand in defence, channelling a bolt of lighting into the first creature’s chest.  
The Watcher frowned, but quickly held up their arm, a magical shield materialising to stop the blast.

“リ╎ᓵᒷ ℸ ̣ ∷||.”  
They hissed, raising the sword.

Alex threw up his uninjured wing as a shield, squeezing his eyes closed in concentration.  
He had to get out of there-

In a bolt of lightning, the admin was yanked out into the Voidscape… and the Watcher along with him.

“How-!”

The creature darted forward with a hiss, not even allowing Ex to finish his sentence. 

He dodged the first slash, trying desperately to catch his breath, but the Watcher advanced again, leaving no space to think.

Alex moved back further, dodging one move, two, trying to follow the ruthless blur of motion that was the Watcher.

His wing was throbbing in pain, and it was all he could do to stay on his feet. Blood fell from the wound down into the endless void below the magical floor, the purple static seeming to invade Ex’s mind as he tried to stay conscious.

The Watcher suddenly leapt into the air, catching him off guard. Alex tried to move, but found one of the doors at his back, blocking his exit.

Desperately, Ex grabbed the handle, falling backwards into the unknown world.

He stumbled, surprised to find something somewhat soft beneath him.

Cotton-candy clouds swirled dizzyingly above him, the sound of squawking birds making his ears ring.

Alex pushed himself to his feet, glancing around.  
A few feet away, a child with ears like a kitten was tugging on a strange metallic man’s sweater, pointing towards Ex.

He felt his stomach drop as he met the little girl’s eyes, panicking.  
He wanted to regain his footing, but the Watcher would be coming;

He couldn’t lead them to another innocent world.

Alex summoned his lightning again, stumbling out into the Voidscape.

Down the long corridor of world doors, he could see that the Watcher was no longer alone.  
The two from the End had joined them, and they clearly weren’t happy.

The tall Watcher pointed towards a bright pink door, seemingly arguing with the others, but was stopped when another creature grabbed his arm, pointing towards Ex.

“Crap-”

He looked around, darting for a door that looked fairly abandoned.

The sound of wingbeats followed him as he leapt into the new world, 

Ex looked around, frantically grabbing the handle of one of the old, battered-looking doors.

He jumped in, slamming the door behind him and quickly trying to think of protective spells.  
How did you put up a barrier again?

Ex looked up to see what advantage the land gave him, but all pretence of planning was forgotten when he saw where he was.

“Alex?”

The room was dark, and there was hardly enough space for the number of people gathered.  
Still, it would be hard to miss those glowing purple eyes in front of him.

“‘Suma?”  
He didn’t know what to do- he couldn’t move, couldn’t think.

“Oh, Ex-”  
To Alex’s immeasurable surprise, Xisuma pulled him into a bear hug with a sigh.

“I never would have thought… I assumed you would join them…”  
X pulled back just enough to look Ex in the eyes, looking surprisingly guilty.

“So he got you too?”

Alex backed up, confused beyond belief.  
“He what? Who? Huh?”

“NPC; he’s the reason we’re all here.”  
A voice piped up from the far wall.

“Grian?”  
Ex squinted through the dim, trying to make out the faces around him. The builder was covered in what might have been too much ketchup, a grim frown on his face, so unlike what he’d ever seen from him.

As Alex looked around, he realised that there was a lot more than just one Hermit here; at least a dozen, if you included him

“Who the heck is NPC? Why are you all-?”

Alex shook his head, pushing Xisuma away from himself.  
“I don’t know what this is, but….”  
He didn’t know how to finish that sentence.

Luckily, X was already filling in, a sad look of realisation in his eyes.  
“You’re not our Alex, are you?”

Ex stepped back, conflicted.  
“What is that supposed to mean?”

“I mean, you jumped into this backroom prison with no idea what was happening and a look on your face like you’re about to do something stupid.”  
Xisuma said matter-of-factly, looking Ex up and down.

“You’re not from here… er, wherever here is.”

Alex nodded, still not really following.  
“Well, yeah… I’m not banned and you’re not angry, so... I’m assuming you’re not my Xisuma either.”  
He didn’t mean for it to sound so mean, but it did anyway.

“You’re-” X blinked as if trying to process that sentence.  
“I banned you?!”

“Um… yeah. Other you is an asshole.”

Xisuma bit his lip as if he couldn’t wrap his head around that sentiment. He looked worried, clearly trying to think of a good way to answer that.

In the end, he just shook his head sadly.

“Well… I’m sorry. For other me’s sake.”

He looked as if he wanted to say more, but stopped himself, putting a hand on Ex’s arm.  
“Um… don’t do something super stupid, okay? I don’t think you’re stuck here like the rest of us… and judging by the wings you’re about to get into a fight”

Alex swallowed, fighting against another surge of tears. Once again, Xisuma seemed to already know what was happening more than him.  
He wanted to be mad, but Ex was really just confused.  
“Okay… I won’t. Maybe.”

Xisuma smiled, backing up.  
“Good enough.”

“Y'all might want to cover your eyes… teleporting gets a little bright.”  
Ex said to the others, trying not to fall apart.

“Good luck bro,” X said softly.

Unable to stay any longer, Alex teleported out of the strange pocket back into the Voidscape, finding himself surprisingly dizzy afterwards.

He paused, trying to catch his breath as a fresh wave of emotions and pain threatened to overcome him.

Ex closed his eyes for a second, willing his wings to disappear again.  
The phantom pain remained, but they wouldn’t get in his way again.

That took care of the problem for the most part, but he was still left reeling from the strange conversation.  
He knew that you weren’t technically supposed to be able to go to dimensions where an alter version of yourself existed, but he didn’t really care about what was supposed to happen.

X (or at least that version of X) didn’t hate him.  
That would have to be enough… right?

There was suddenly a shout from down the “corridor” of the void, snapping Alex out of his thoughts.

“⍑ᒷ'ᓭ 𝙹⍊ᒷ∷ ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ∷ᒷ!!”

The three Watchers were huddled around a door, one tugging desperately at the handle, but to no avail. The others were staring straight at him, all sense of humanity gone from the tallest’ animalistic voice.

Simultaneous, the two attentive Watchers charged towards him, weapons raised and teeth bared.

Alex quickly charged his magic, scared, yet surprisingly at peace.

He wasn’t running anymore.  
He’d promised not to do anything stupid… but first he was going to end this.

As the first Watcher charged into his range, Ex let off a powerful bolt of energy, setting the creature on fire.  
It shrieked in pain, flailing its wings pitifully, but Alex just blasted it again.

The creature went limp, falling through the invisible floor that kept them all on the same level.  
Dead. 

One down.

Ex didn’t get a chance to watch it fall before the next two Watchers were upon him, their fury tangible. 

He sent a blast toward the nearest one, but they just deflected it with their mace, growling angrily. 

Alex backed up a bit, charging his magic again.  
In a flurry, the mace-wielding Watcher jumped in the air, swinging downward. 

Ex tensed, shooting at it quickly. The creature faltered, crashing back to the ground level. He quickly kicked the mace out of the Watcher’s hand, snatching it up.

Just in time too, as the third and tallest Watcher had already caught up, swinging their sword to meet the heavy weapon.  
Alex skidded backwards, the weight of the angry creature’s swing almost knocking him off of his feet.

With a growl, it spun around, grabbing its fellow Watcher by their cloak and standing them up. Both of them turned their masks toward him, and it didn’t take an x-ray to figure out that all their eyes were probably glaring.

The shorter Watcher lunged forward again, claws open and teeth bared.  
Ex backed up but was caught off guard by the heavy weapon in his hands.

The creature raked its claws along his shoulder, leaving a painful gash down his arm.

Alex shouted in pain and anger, swinging the mace toward the creature.  
He was losing to a Watcher; he had promised himself that was never going to happen again.

The closer Watcher ducked, but they misjudged Ex’s swing.

The weapon collided with their pearly white mask, sending shards of porcelain exploding everywhere.  
With a final gasp, they fell through into the void.

One to go.

Alex looked up, just in time to see the sword coming towards his head.

He ducked, the Watcher’s swipe scraping against the top of his helmet with a terrible screech.

“YOU WON’T ESCAPE SO EASY THIS TIME!” They roared, slashing at him again.

Ex ducked back, resuming the deadly game of tag from earlier.

He sent a bolt of lightning at the Watcher’s face, blasting the side of their mask, but was quickly knocked back by a sharp blow to the chest.

One caught him in the side, sending him stumbling down the hall, and then another to his head.  
The hits kept coming, faster and faster, to the point where Ex was moving on pure instinct, too wrapped up in evading to even get a hit in edgewise.

He didn’t know how long it went on; it could have been seconds, could have been hours, but finally, there was an opening.

Alex sent off another panicked shot of electricity, but all too late, realised that he’d made a mistake.

The Watcher raised its sword with a triumphant glare, too many eyes boring into him.

The energy blast hit the flat of the blade, reflected back towards Ex.

In a horrific blaze of white, it pegged him in the chest, sending him flying down to the ground.

Alex gulped, scrambling backwards, pain spreading from his smoking chest plate. He didn’t have to look to know that it was bad.

With a satisfied hiss, the Watcher kicked him down, planting a heavy foot in the middle of his chest.  
“I refuse to lose to a pathetic Admin.”

Ex coughed, struggling to focus, his vision blurring.  
Not like this-

“Any last words, little traitor?”

Ex glared up at the creature, searching his mind.

He had plenty of things left to say.

He wanted to scream and curse and raise hell.

He wanted to fight and destroy and end every Watcher left, just to watch this one burn. 

He wanted to fix things. 

He wanted- no, needed- to apologise to Xisuma.

Instead, he just lay there, mute and defiant as he glared up into those bloodthirsty eyes.

Maybe he hadn’t escaped in the end, but he wasn’t about to give the Watcher the satisfaction of seeing him squirm.

He would stare them down until he couldn’t keep going.

He was going to die fighting, out here, lost in the void.

“Suit yourself.”  
The Watcher sneered, raising their sword.

The world seemed to slow before Ex’s eyes.

The Watcher moved to strike.

And then there was nothing but light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> >:)


	18. Child of Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I know exactly how the rule goes  
> Put my mask on first  
> No, I don't want to talk about myself  
> Tell me where it hurts  
> I just want to build you up, build you up  
> 'Til you're good as new  
> And maybe one day I will get around to fixing myself too  
> I don't even know where to start  
> Already tired of trying to recall when it all fell apart  
> I just want to love you, to love you, to love you well  
> I just want to learn how, somehow, to be loved myself
> 
> _-Two (Sleeping At Last)_

Dread.

There was no other way to express this feeling other than dread.

Dread, filling every fibre of his being.

Dread, making his breath come short and freckles pulse to a heartbeat that shouldn’t be so fast.

Sudden, inexplicable dread that something was wrong, something was so terribly wrong, and it needed to be stopped.

But he was too far-

Too far from whatever was so wrong.

Xisuma stood in the middle of the End, watching the signal on his visor blink steadily and fighting down this wave of dread from seemingly nowhere.

And then his vision flashed.

_“Any last words, little traitor?”_

_A Watcher, standing over him with a raised sword._

_Too many eyes glaring at him._

Xisuma blinked, looking around the End as panic threatened to choke him.

“What the-”

_Fear and anger and regret, not his own yet too familiar to ignore._

_He suddenly hated the Watcher, hated the Void, hated Xisuma._

Why would he hate himself? 

Why was it all wrong?

The Watcher sighed a bit as if disappointed by his silence.

_“Suit yourself.”_

_The sword raised higher, glinting against the static backdrop._

_Something snapped, magic surging up within him in a wave of panic._

X needed to be there. 

Needed to stop it, right now.

Brilliant white energy exploded over everything, the magic tearing him from the world and into the Voidscape in a dizzying faster reaction.

The Watcher didn’t even have time to look up before time froze.

And then there was nothing but light.

\--- 

_Two boys sat side by side, silently huddled together on the roof of a tower._

_The wind was deafening, a tangible force that pulled at their cloaks and battered into their sides, clawing for a chance to drag them off the edge._

_Neither acknowledged it, merely stayed close together, drawing strength from being close._

_One boy held a small tablet in his hands, fingers flying across the screen. His freckles pulsed nervously, concentration written all over his face as he worked on some sort of project._

_Next to him, his brother watched the horizon, wings held high to block out the gale.  
If anything, he seemed impatient, if not a bit anxious as he watched a storm drift through the void, drawing closer and closer to their outlook every moment._

_“You found anything yet?”_

_“No.”_

_The second brother sighed, pulling his cloak closer._

_The wind whistled into the silence._

_After a long moment, he spoke again._

_“How long is it going to take?”_

_“I don’t know.”_

_That wasn’t the answer he was looking for._

_“Has there been any new signals?”_

_The boy with the tablet looked up, exhaustion in his voice.  
“For the last time, Ex, there hasn’t been anything in weeks. Just… wait.”_

_“Ugh, fine.”  
Ex crossed his arms, shifting his wings against the gale.  
He already knew that; he just wanted something to do about it._

_The wind blew harder, carrying with it the smell of ozone._

_“Hey X…”_

_“Hm?”_

_“What…. What happens if he doesn’t come back?”_

_Xisuma paused, turning to look Alex in the eyes._

_“I… I don’t know....”_

_Ex thought about that for a long moment, frowning._

_Thunder rumbled ominously around them._

_“What happens if…. If They show up… y’know, when he doesn’t come back”_

_Xisuma frowned back, shifting his wings nervously._

_“They won’t. He will come back.”_

_Alex bit his lip, fiddling with the edge of his cloak._

_“Yeah… okay. But what if he doesn’t? What then? We’re not supposed to leave, and we can’t just... fight them.”_

_X tilted his head, running a hand through his hair._

_“Since when are you the one following the rules?”  
He asked quietly, dancing around the question._

_“Since you started breaking them.”_

_Xisuma froze, drawing a sharp breath._

_They sat in stiff silence for another moment as X turned back to his tablet._

_“Hey ’Suma?”_

_“Yeah?”_

_Alex hesitated for a moment before wrapping a wing around his brother, crossing his arms decidedly._

_“It’s okay to break the rules sometimes.”_

_Xisuma frowned, shaking his head._

_“Easy for you to say…”_

_“I mean it.”_

_Ex said more forcefully, pulling his brother closer.  
“I won’t care if you aren’t perfect.”_

_Xisuma put down his tablet, doubt in his eyes._

_“How can you know that?”_

_Alex turned to look his brother full-on, matching X’s frown._

_“Jonathan, there is literally nothing you could do that I haven’t already screwed up. I promise whatever major infraction you commit won’t be that bad.”_

_Xisuma smiled a bit, biting his lip._

_“Promise?”_

_“I promise.”_

_“You know that's not much of a consolation, right?”_

_Alex laughed, punching X lightly._

_“Whatever. As long as you put up with me I’ll put up with you. What else could you want?”_

_X chuckled a bit but turned back to his tablet._

_“Another signal would be nice.”_

_Ex sighed._

_“Yeah, well beggars can’t be choosers. You’re stuck with just me for now.”  
Xisuma raised an eyebrow at Alex._

_“Eh, that's good enough, I guess.”_

_“You’re darn right it is.”_

_X smiled, wrapping a wing around Alex as he turned back to his work._

_In the distance, the storm rumbled to life, but neither noticed._

_They were safe here. Together._

\---

For a long moment, Xisuma didn’t move.

It wouldn’t have changed anything if he did, but he was in too much shock to risk breaking the trance.

A starry white haze covered everything.

It covered the Voidscape, making the multitude of doors look more like shadows all along the hall.

It covered the two figures frozen in front of him, softening their glares to mere frustration.

It caused the Watcher’s mask to shine, every crack thrown into deep shadows and exposing every dark, livid eye...

It made the sword glow with ethereal light, it’s tip poised above Alex’s helmet. It illuminated the visor that had just begun to shatter, the very last barrier between his brother and a death that had been put on hold.

Xisuma sat down, nearly choking on relief.

He’d used his magic to hurt… and now he’d used it to put it all on pause.

For a moment that was solely his own, he was able to look at just how close he’d come to losing it all.

The rest of the world lay paused, but he would never forget this.

Xisuma sat for a very long time.

Not that that mattered. 

The two frozen figures would not move until he released them.  
They could stay like this forever; trapped in the horrible frozen scene.

But they wouldn’t. Because X knew he had to face the music.

Eventually, he managed to calm down enough to stand.

He crossed the brilliant white void and looked at the frozen figures.

Xisuma looked neither the Watcher nor Alex in the face as he pulled the sword out of the creature’s hands and threw it out into the void.

It fell till there was nothing left to see, and only then did he let himself breath.

He pulled out his own bow, pausing to take the Watcher’s mask off and throw it away as well.

He didn’t want to kill it… despite knowing what it had been about to do.

More death never solved anyone’s problems.

That didn’t stop him from loading an arrow and aiming it at the creature, a horrid sense of deja vu running over him.

He’d held this bow aimed at Alex just a few days earlier. 

The universe was not always subtle in its callbacks, to be sure.

With a sigh, X closed his eyes, concentrating his magic.

Slowly, ever so slowly, he lifted the light and let time resume.

It was time to face the music.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lol, I got kicked out of office for that last chapter, so I hope y’all like this XD 
> 
> I may or may not have spent a week stressing over this to ultimately post only the parts I wrote in the last hour.
> 
> Sorry it’s short and more floaty, but I think it works better than what I had originally anyway XD 
> 
> Also also, this fic got over a stack of Kudos this week!! I legit cried, I was so happy and baffled, y’all have no clue how much all this support means, I love this fic and have poured my heart and soul into it :)  
> The fact that anyone has read it just fills me with joy, and I’m super excited to keep working on it.
> 
> Updates may be a bit slower since I started school and am working on art commissions a lot more, but I promise I’ll try to not have this big a break again :’)
> 
> I love y’all so much, and now my phones gonna die, so dftba!!  
> <3 SweetTea
> 
> (Ps ignore the name change, I’m the same human lol)
> 
> Edit: totally forgot to put this last night, but shoutout to \featheredFox/ for predicting Xisuma’s return like immediately XDD


	19. Bye :(

Hey guys, I’m really sorry to come out of nowhere like this, but I’m... im discontinuing this and leaving Ao3. It sucks, I know, but it’s just a personal thing.

No, the next chapter isn’t done, but I will still write this in private, and maybe eventually I can share.  
If you’re interested, I’m on Instagram as @sweet.tea.sketches so feel free to contact me there and I can maybe share what bit of the story I have. Tysm for your understanding, and dftba <3 i’ma miss y’all.


End file.
